"
"You need more than that," said the lawyer, shuddering as he looked at
his client. "You will receive a quarterly stipend which will clothe
you decently."
"Bless me! are you here, Godeschal?" cried Philippe, recognizing in
Desroches's head-clerk, as they passed out, the brother of Mariette.
"Yes, I have been with Monsieur Desroches for the last two months."
"And he will stay with me, I hope, till he gets a business of his
own," said Desroches.
"How is Mariette?" asked Philippe, moved at his recollections.
"She is getting ready for the opening of the new theatre."
"It would cost her little trouble to get my sentence remitted," said
Philippe. "However, as she chooses!"
After a meagre dinner, given by Desroches who boarded his head-clerk,
the two lawyers put the political convict in the diligence, and wished
him good luck.
CHAPTER XIV
On the second of November, All-Souls' day, Philippe Bridau appeared
before the commissary of police at Issoudun, to have the date of his
arrival recorded on his papers; and by that functionary's advice he
went to lodge in the rue l'Avenier. The news of the arrival of an
officer, banished on account of the late military conspiracy, spread
rapidly through the town, and caused all the more excitement when it
was known that this officer was a brother of the painter who had been
falsely accused. Maxence Gilet, by this time entirely recovered from
his wound, had completed the difficult operation of turning all Pere
Rouget's mortgages into money, and putting the proceeds in one sum, on
the "grand-livre.
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