"Ma foi! I have others also; I contemplate an entire alteration of Val-Richer."
"Your estate in Burgundy?"
"Yes; there is much that may be done there, if, indeed, God grants me life."
"Poor old fellow!"
"Have you not recently bought a farm near Val-Richer to complete your ring-fence?"
"Yes, a very nice thing, to which I was advised by my notary."
"And who is this rare and precious notary who advises such admirable purchases?"
"M. Jacques Ferrand."
At this name a slight shudder came over M. de Saint-Remy, and he frowned imperceptibly.
"Is he really the honest man they call him?" he inquired, carelessly, of M. d'Harville, who then remembered what Rodolph had related to Clémence about the notary.