These feelings were confirmed as he stood by his mother’s bed on the day when she was out of danger.  Nor did this happiness come single.  Claude Vignon, who called every day from the Prince de Wissembourg to inquire as to Madame Hulot’s progress, desired the re-elected deputy to go with him to see the Minister.

“His Excellency,” said he, “wants to talk over your family affairs with you.”

The Prince had long known Victorin Hulot, and received him with a friendliness that promised well.

“My dear fellow,” said the old soldier, “I promised your uncle, in this room, that I would take care of your mother.  That saintly woman, I am told, is getting well again; now is the time to pour oil into your wounds.  I have for you here two hundred thousand francs; I will give them to you——­”

The lawyer’s gesture was worthy of his uncle the Marshal.

“Be quite easy,” said the Prince, smiling; “it is money in trust.  My days are numbered; I shall not always be here; so take this sum, and fill my place towards your family.  You may use this money to pay off the mortgage on your house.  These two hundred thousand francs are the property of your mother and your sister.  If I gave the money to Madame Hulot, I fear that, in her devotion to her husband, she would be tempted to waste it.  And the intention of those who restore it to you is, that it should produce bread for Madame Hulot and her daughter, the Countess Steinbock.  You are a steady man, the worthy son of your noble mother, the true nephew of my friend the Marshal; you are appreciated here, you see—­and elsewhere.  So be the guardian angel of your family, and take this as a legacy from your uncle and me.”

“Monseigneur,” said Hulot, taking the Minister’s hand and pressing it, “such men as you know that thanks in words mean nothing; gratitude must be proven.”

“Prove yours—­” said the old man.

“In what way?”

“By accepting what I have to offer you,” said the Minister.  “We propose to appoint you to be attorney to the War Office, which just now is involved in litigations in consequence of the plan for fortifying Paris; consulting clerk also to the Prefecture of Police; and a member of the Board of the Civil List.  These three appointments will secure you salaries amounting to eighteen thousand francs, and will leave you politically free.  You can vote in the Chamber in obedience to your opinions and your conscience.  Act in perfect freedom on that score.  It would be a bad thing for us if there were no national opposition!

“Also, a few lines from your uncle, written a day or two before he breathed his last, suggested what I could do for your mother, whom he loved very truly.—­Mesdames Popinot, de Rastignac, de Navarreins, d’Espard, de Grandlieu, de Carigliano, de Lenoncourt, and de la Batie have made a place for your mother as a Lady Superintendent of their charities.  These ladies, presidents of various branches of benevolent