"I shall then be obliged, my dear Quiès, in order not to come in for a share of public reprobation in this affair-" "Reprobation. Oh! Oh!"

"To see you less frequently."

"You need not see me except when it pleases you to do so. And, let me say, without reproach

"I come here but little, from discretion."

"Just so."

"I shall be obliged not to come at all, from respect for public opinion."

"Ah!"

Anthime bowed coldly, opened the door coldly, and went out coldly, leaving Dr. Quiès confounded and grieved. He believed in the friendship of M. Bonamy, and to lose it was a trial. True, but thirty leagues meant a trial of a far more severe kind! He struck the name of M. Anthime Bonamy off his mental list of friends, wondering the while how so trifling an affair had come to assume such large proportions.

Was he to be shunned as a leper because he refused to—but no, the thing was absurd.

Perhaps it was, nevertheless the fact was so, or seemed to be so. Gertrude had made her arrangements to that effect. After M. Bonamy came M. de Préchafoin, President of the Society of Numismatics and Archæology of SaintPignon, to endeavour to make Dr. J. B. Quiès understand. how much his refusal was to be regretted and blamed.

M. de Préchafoin, a dry little chip of a man, as thin as Anthime, whom he resembled in more respects than one, owed his lofty position neither to his personal merits, which were nil, nor to his fortune, which was small, nor indeed to anything of weight or importance. He was President of the Society of, etc., etc., Member of, etc., etc., and many other things, simply because he wore gold spectacles.

The influence of a pair of gold spectacles is extraordinary; it gives a man a position at once.

The fact is, a man does not take to wearing gold spectacles until he has acquired a high idea of his own importance; and having done that he cannot fail to let some reference to it escape him, if only in a few words, which being repeated and added to, finally establish his celebrity. M. de Préchafoin was not absolutely devoid of tact, and he acquitted himself of his delicate errand with every kind

of precaution. Quiès pleaded his stoutness, and asserted that travelling is an exercise to be avoided when one weighs over one hundred and ten kilograms.

M. de Préchafoin replied that Dr. Quiès owed a duty to science; that the medals alluded to by Commandant La Carriole might possibly be of inestimable value from the archæological point of view. To absent himself was more than weakness, and the doctor's refusal might bring about

a rupture between himself and the learned Society of Saint-Pignon.

Dr. J. B. Quiès dismissed M. de Préchafoin politely.

Mme. Ragot had no better success; the forsaken doctor seemed to take his ostracism with great resignation, and the scandal spread apace.

The whole town declared that, notwithstanding his scientific eminence, Doctor J. B. Quiès was a man on whom no one could depend, since the mere fear of a few hours' fatigue sufficed to prevent him from rendering so slight a service to his oldest friend.

Would he go? Would he not go? These were the burning questions of the day. Sides were taken for and against; there was the party of Aye, there was the party of No. In short no diplomatic note ever produced such an effect.

Saint-Pignon was in a volcanic condition.

The christening was fixed for the 12th of September. Up to the 9th the doctor held out. An ultimatum which amounted to no less than boycotting him, was tendered to him by his cousin the widow, in the names of the family and his friends.

The doctor held out.

On the morning of the 10th, Henri accosted him. "It's for the day after to-morrow, Doctor."

“After to-morrow?”

"The christening."

46

Ah-yes!" muttered Quiès.

I shall be greatly grieved personally if you persist in your refusal."

"But-my boy

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"It would be a great sorrow to me to leave you." "What? What are you saying?"

"My mother has given me to understand that if you don't go

"She too!" groaned Quiès, quite confounded. Henri laughed covertly.

The doctor was half choked by his feelings. The loss of his housekeeper; the loss of his seat as a member of the learned society of Saint-Pignon, he might disregard; to lose the friendship of M. Bonamy was very well; to lose Mme. Ragot, good; but, to lose Henri! No, that was too much.

Doctor J. B. Quiès gave in-worse luck for him!

It was not, however, as will easily be believed, without a great mental struggle, that he presented himself on the following morning at the railway-station, accompanied by Anthime and Henri.

What a journey!

He would have to reach Paris, get out of the train, get into another train on a second line of railway, and afterwards travel three leagues in a diligence in order to arrive at Plessis-les-Assoux, the little village in the department of Seine-et-Marne in which Commandant La Carriole resided.

Quiès embraced Gertrude, his cousin Mme. Ragot, Mme. de Malleville, and even the station-master, after the manner of a man who was never again to behold his native land. Alas! The proverb which says that "Songe est mensonge" is not of invariable application.