assignee, and you may rest secure that your rights—and the rights of my young friend here—shall be protected."
"I would not have troubled you with this communication," he continued after a pause, "except to give you this assurance, and a little piece of advice: Let some acute and reliable friend immediately take out letters of administration upon your husband's estate; and let him, without delay, proceed to examine the accounts of the late partnership."
"Mr. Le Vert has undertaken to do so," said Madame Lefrette.
"I am aware of that," said the lawyer; "but it will be, as I told him this evening, taxing his good-will too far, to place him in circumstances of such temptation."
"Temptation!" exclaimed the widow, in surprise.
"Temptation," repeated the lawyer, decidedly. "I do not know that he would use the pen otherwise than for its legitimate purpose of rendering fair accounts; but the only means of making honesty certain, is to remove all temptation from its path."
After some further conversation, and a promise by Madame Lefrette to think seriously of his advice, Mr. Beman left them.
As the sound of his footsteps died away on the street, and his figure grew dim in the moonlight, Marie turned from the door, to which she had attended him, and approached the chair where her mother still sat, dejected and sorrowing.
"Mother, my dear," said she, placing her arms about the widow's neck, and smiling in her face, "you must not be cast down by these tidings; for I have a firm faith that this will turn out to be a blessing rather than a misfortune."
"It is not on account of the insolvency of this company, my daughter," said her mother, drawing her down upon a seat, "that I am cast down; for I have expected that result for a long time. It is only for your sake that I have ever wished to realize your father's visions; and it is now solely on your account that I regret their failure."
"If it have no worse effect than it has had to-night," said Marie, gayly, "I shall not quarrel with Fortune about it, mother. We have both spent a far more pleasant evening than we would have done
