Meneval.

[56]

Papa Bouchard, for all that he had been hectored by a woman all his life, was yet no fool. He saw that de Meneval had him in a trap, and reasoned out the whole thing inside of two minutes.

“Now, Monsieur le Capitaine,” he said, presently, “I see where we stand. I will not lend you the money out of Léontine’s income—but I will lend it to you myself. I shall keep this necklace until the money is paid. Meanwhile, I shall go out to see this place—the Pigeon House—and judge for myself all these facts that you allege.”

“Do!” cried the cheerful reprobate, with a grin. “Perhaps you’ll like it and get into the habit of going there.”

“And perhaps,” replied Papa Bouchard, “I may not like it, and you may have your income reduced if you[57] persist in going there. And then—when the whole transaction is concluded and the money repaid, I shall disclose every particular of it to Léontine.”

[57]

“By all means!” De Meneval was actually laughing in Papa Bouchard’s face. “I’ll deny every word of it, of course, and call for proof. I’ll tell Léontine you tried to persuade me to go out there with you and I refused. I’ll say you gave the suppers, and I’ll bring twenty of the best fellows in the regiment to swear to it—and you’ll see who comes out ahead in that game.”

Papa Bouchard was so horrified at the cold-blooded villainy of this that he could hardly speak for a minute. But he refused to take the threat seriously, and demanding the bill, which de Meneval promptly produced, said, stiffly:

“You will hear from me in a day or two.”

“And how about the advance?”[58] asked de Meneval, “I should like about a thousand francs in cash.”

[58]

Papa Bouchard put up his eye-glass and surveyed Captain de Meneval all over, which scrutiny was borne with the greatest coolness by the brazen captain of artillery.

“You see,” continued de Meneval, “the story is very liable to get into the newspapers—extremely liable, I may say. It will be something like this—that Monsieur Bouchard held Captain and Madame de Meneval so tight that they were compelled to let Monsieur Bouchard have Madame’s diamond necklace for a small loan—and the newspapers will probably make it out to be Léontine’s 

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