coming from America, the other from Hamburgh-assailed by a tremendous storm, were thrown on the rocky shores of Picardy, completely wrecked. Most of the passengers were drowned, some few only being saved, and hospitably received by the bailiff of the castle of Cardoville. Among these few, however, were Rose and Blanche Simon, Gabriel, and Prince Djalma; with an old horse-grenadier of the Imperial Guard, and a Malay ruffian who accompanied the prince, to betray or serve him, as might best suit his momentary interests. All of them were in Paris on the 11th or 12th of February, ready to appear on the 13th at the appointed place; whilst, on the other side, Mademoiselle Adrienne de Cardoville let some few words escape which indicated a certain knowledge of the mysterious secret: so that years of Jesuitical toil to obtain the golden prize were completely lost.

In these unfavorable circumstances, the reverend fathers were not discouraged; on the contrary, they resolved to resort to extreme measures in order that their own claimant should alone be present at the rendezvous. On the fatal 13th of February, Rose and Blanche Simon had been carried away from the lodgings of their humble protector, and shut up in a convent. Mademoiselle Adrienne de Cardoville was confined in a mad-house, where she had been driven in the carriage of her medical doctor, under pretence of conducting her to the residence of the minister. James Rennepont, the mechanic, had been arrested in the middle of a most disgusting orgie, and led to the debtor's prison. Mr. Hardy, the manufacturer, had been sent to Lyons, by a forged letter of a friend in that city, claiming his assistance; and Prince Djalma, having drunk a draught given to him by his Malay attendant, was kept in a profound sleep in his apartment at the hotel.

Having disposed, in this summary way, of all the claimants except their own, the Jesuits were masters of the field; and, on the 13th of February, before noon, the provincial, Father d'Aigrigny, with his secretary, Rodin, were at the house Rue St. Francis, with the Abbé Gabriel, to assist at the opening of the walled up mansion, to hear the reading of the will, to pass the accounts of old Samuel, in presence of a notary, and to take possession of all the property. Every thing went on as they could wish; and all the formalities having been fulfilled, a clock placed in an adjoining room to that in which they were, though it had not been wound up for one century and a half, began striking twelve. No sooner was the last stroke heard, than the secretary, Rodin, exclaimed 'Twelve o'clock !' and the notary said, 'No other descendant of M. Marius de Rennepont having presented himself before noon, I proceed to execute the will of the testator, and declare, in the name of justice and the law, M. Fre

Marie Gabriel de Rennepont, here present, the sole and only heir and possessor of the estates, personal and real property, and valuables of whatever kind arising fron the succession of the testator, which property the said Gabriel de Rennepont, priest, has freely, and on his own accord, given by notorial act, to Frederic Emanuel de Bordeville, Marquis d'Aigrigny, priest, who, by the same deed, has accepted it, and thereby becomes the legitimate possessor, in the room and place of the aforesaid Gabriel de Rennepont, by a deed of gift between living persons, which has been, this morning, engrossed by me, and signed, Gabriel de Rennepont, and Frederic d'Aigrigny, priests.' The notary, then, after having ascertained the amount of the property, which was deposited in a cedar casket, said to Father d'Aigrigny, Sir, take possession of this casket.'

Thus far the success of the Jesuits was complete, and both Father d'Aigrigny and Rodin, the secretary, were exulting in their triumph; but when just on the point of departing, the latter holding under his arm the cedar casket, containing the property at that very moment, the door of the room wherein the clock was heard to strike, was suddenly thrown open, and a woman appeared upon the threshold. After pausing some little time, without speaking a word, she advanced slowly, approached one of the pieces of antique furniture, touched a secret spring and opened the top drawer, from which she took a parcel of sealed parchment, and approaching the table, she placed the parcel before the notary, who took it up mechanically, having till that moment been both mute and motionless. After having bestowed on Gabriel, who seemed fascinated by her presence, a look of melancholy sweetness, she directed her steps towards the door of the vestibule. In passing old Samuel and Bathsheba, who had fallen on their knees, she stopped a moment, and bending her beautiful head towards the elderly couple, she contemplated them with tender solicitude, and after having given them her hand to kiss, she retreated as slowly as she had entered, but not without casting a parting look on Gabriel.'

Of course all the witnesses of this extraordinary apparition of a woman, in a house uninhabited and walled up for a hundred and fifty years, had been thrown into a sort of stupefaction. D'Aigrigny and Rodin, however, soon sufficiently recovered their self possession, to seize the opportunity which the amazement of all the parties present offered, of making a hasty retreat with their treasure, without waiting for the opening of the parcel delivered by the mysterious lady, which had begun to excite their apprehension. Their exit, however, was observed and prevented by old Samuel, who insisted upon their remaining in the room, until the notary had examined the parchment which had just been put into his hands. The notary being of the same

opinion with the faithful trustee, Father d'Aigrigny and the secretary were obliged to comply with the request. The parcel was opened in their presence, and the notary read the following codicil :

"This is a codicil, which, for reasons which will be explained in the papers under this cover, adjourn and prorogue to the 1st of June 1832, but without altering in any other respect, the disposition contained in the will made by me this day, at one o'clock in the afternoon. The house must be shut up and walled up again, and the property must remain in charge of the person who may, at that time, be in possession of it, to be, on the 1st of June, distributed to those who are entitled to it. Villetaneuse, the 13th February, 1682, eleven o'clock at night. Marius de Rennepont.'

In conformity with the dispositions of this codicil, the notary, in spite of the protests of the two Jesuits, postponed for three months and a-half the liquidation of the succession, and all the parties left the house. Father d'Aigrigny, with his assistant, repaired to the residence of the Princess St. Dizier, a leader of the female Jesuits in Paris, to report their misadventure. D'Aigrigny, in a state of hopeless despondency, after relating all the particulars of this eventful morning, to the princess, thought it necessary to write, without delay, to the General of the Jesuits at Rome. He ordered his secretary to take his seat at the table, and to write what he was going to dictate. Rodin obeyed, and the reverend Father began in these terms:

'All our hopes, recently amounting to almost a certainty, have been blasted. The Rennepont affair, notwithstanding all the care and ability with which it had hitherto been managed, has completely failed, and without a chance of recovery. As matters are at present, it has unfortunately been worse than unsuccessful. It is a most disastrous circumstance for the society, to whom this wealth morally belonged, by the confiscation decreed in its favour, and from which it was fraudulently withheld. I have, however, the satisfaction of having done every thing up to the latest moment, to defend and secure our rights. But, I repeat, we must consider this important affair as absolutely and for ever at an end, and give no further thought to it.'

These last words were hardly spoken when the secretary rose from his chair, and throwing his pen upon the table, refused to continue writing such a letter, notwithstanding the repeated commands of the reverend father, and the entreaties of the princess. Rodin, the hitherto humble and submissive secretary, on a sudden assumed such an air of superiority that though he did not speak a word, d'Aigrigny and the princess felt unaccountably subdued. The fact is that, this subordinate agent had been given

to him, to act as a spy as much and more than as an auxiliary, with power and authority, in certain urgent cases, and according to the constitution of the Order, of superseding and replacing him. D'Aigrigny began to suspect this, and said to Rodin: 'No doubt you have a right to command me, as I have hitherto commanded you?" Rodin, without answering, drew from his pocket-book a slip of paper which he presented to his ex-master, who, having read it, returned it with a profound obeisance. The first use that Rodin made of his authority, was to order d'Aigrigny to take the seat which he himself had just left; and to write the following letter to the General of the Jesuits.

'From want of tact, in reverend father d'Aigrigny, the affair of Rennepont has been to-day placed in great jeopardy. The property amounts to two hundred and twelve millions of francs. Notwithstanding this check, we think that we may yet be enabled, not only to prevent the Rennepont family from wronging the society, but also to compel that family to restore to the society the two hundred and twelve millions which legitimately belong to us. To effect this we must immediately be provided with the most ample and complete powers.'

Such is the outline of M. Eugene Sue's novel, the continuation of which, in the Constitutionel, has been discontinued for a time, since the opening of the legislative session; the eloquence of liberal members, in behalf of M. Thiers's policy, claiming the space hitherto reserved to the chapters of the Novelist. But, in all probability, the fair subscribers will soon be dissatisfied with the substitute, and our author will resume his work, and add as many chapters as have already been printed.

As to the incidents, which, mixing one with another, or crossing one another, produce a most ludicrous confusion, they are all brought about by the influence of the Jesuits, in order to prevent the members of the Rennepont family from being present, to sustain their claim to the succession of Marius de Rennepont, at the time fixed for the division of the property. We therefore have, in succession, all the adventures of all the members of the family, detailed with all the minuteness and prolixity which characterize penny-liners, without their regard for accuracy or probability.

The first personages introduced are Rose and Blanche Simon. No romance, in France, is acceptable, unless the soldiers of the empire are introduced, and play a principal part. General Simon was, according to our author, one of the bravest followers of Napoleon; and for the courage and military skill he displayed in the combat which preceded the battle of Waterloo, he had been made a field-marshal and Duke of Ligny. After the second restoration of the Bourbons, who refused to confirm his titles,

General Simon left the service, and repaired to Poland, where he married. But, being soon after implicated in a conspiracy, the object of which was the liberation of Poland from the Russian tyranny, the general was ordered out of the country, in which he left his wife, advanced in her pregnancy. The Jesuits, who were already aware of the claims of the lady to a share in the succession of Rennepont, contrived to have her exiled to Siberia, where she gave birth to the twin-sisters, and died towards the end of 1830, leaving them under the protection of an old mounted grenadier of the imperial guard, who, at the demand of his general, had sworn never to desert his wife, and was faithful to his oath. After the death of Madame Simon, the old soldier, who had been made acquainted with the rights of the young girls, and who knew how important it was for them to be in Paris on the 13th of February, immediately set off with the orphans, and, with the assistance of an old horse, also of the imperial guard (a clever addition to the requisite imperialism), he succeeded in reaching Leipsic, where we find them all in the third chapter.

The Jesuits who, by a singular oversight, had not prevented their departure from Siberia, hastened to take proper measures to arrest their progress; and, for this purpose, had sent to Leipsic one of their agents, a wild beast tamer, like Carter or Van Amburg, to whom proper directions were given. This man, Morock, an Indian savage, converted by the Jesuits, was at the Falcon Inn, with his assistants, and a tiger, a lion, and a panther, respectively named Cain, Judas, and Death, when the old soldier, Dagobert, arrived. The plans of the beast tamer to hinder the wanderers from pursuing their journey were carried into execution, in the same night. The old horse was taken from its stable, and brought to the panther, who having been deprived of her supper, soon devoured the poor animal; the passports of Dagobert were stolen from his bag; and he was arrested, and led to a prison, where we lose sight of him, as well as of his interesting wards, until we find them, with him, on board the ship from Hamburg, wrecked on the rocks of the coast of Picardy :-rocks created for the purpose, by the author, who takes the greatest liberties with geography and topography, as well as with contemporary history.

As we have before stated, the two sisters who had been brought to Paris by Dagobert, and placed under the care of his wife, a simple and bigotted woman, were carried away and secluded in a convent. The place of their confinement was, however, soon discovered, thanks to the fidelity and sagacity of Dagobert's Siberian dog, who, after strangling the dog of the lady who had taken the young girls from M. Dagobert, had