The National tribune., 1882-04-22
JUSTIN YITALTS CLIENT.
I 7 I

Hh2i momcEtOus events may not happen
l,s,' e. t". paragraphs of a letter inter
lut' "a l5ur! When Yitali wrote to
l,.- i..r u"j he would devote himself to
ci.rt tather's memory 10 the exclu-
-. o.. d., oller objects or ambitions he
sax a" meaat; when he resumed his
leii,f. .l.- :, .ssage Iii it was no longer true
His & - ,,i-ty had not lessened, but 4 new
eleasl; OT hopes and fears had entered his
life. liz ,aain object at present was 20 clear
Clotildc Despl.ns; ana when he had done
that, what tIen2 Here he asked himself
with uneasjness why he should shrink from
looking to the time when the professional
relations between himself and the young
widow should be at All end, and when per-
haps she would go away and be never more
seen of him His life would become cheer
less blan. again then, as it had beer before
she had come 10 him like a sunbeam into
prison cell. He lid looked upon her, and
1t seemed to him that her lace must forever
more remain shining before his minds eyes
When she had gone, he carefully read
through the writ OF process with which she
had been served, and which, like all such
documents in France, was a most elaborate
indictment covering several pages of stamped
paper. The terms Of it made his blood boil
Accustomed as he was to the calumnious
malice of litigants, to the diabolical inge-
nuity with which a plaintiffs lawyer can
pervert the meaning of the simplest acts and
words so that they may be made to bear a
felonious significance, Justin Vital never
theless thought that SANDER had never been
pushed to greater length, and humanity,
honor, decency, and common sense never
been more outrageously set at defiance, than
in this document, which accused Clotilde
Desplans of being a false intriguer and
swindler. He foresaw that the case would
make an immense noise; for, in country
where women's influence is paramount. the
public have a great interest in knowing
what constitutes an exercise of undue in
fluehce; then the magnitude of the sum at
stake would lend importance to the suit,
besides greatly heating the plaintiffs pleas,
for Frenchmen do fight with exceeding
desperation for million francs
All the other briefs which Vital had in
hand at this time lapsed into the background
of his preoccupations; and on the morrow
Of Madame Desplans's visit, it cost him real
physical saffering to go into court and give
mis- attention during three hours to a knGtty
insurance case. He had scarcely slept
through the night from thinking of the
extraordinary concourSe of circumstances
which had made him morally the debtor of
Madame Desplans, whom his father had un-
Willingly ruined. lie deemed it nobly
generous Of her to have said that if he won
her suit she would consider they were quits,
and most magnanimcus Of her to have shown
such readiness in believing in his fathers
innocence-a point upon which all the world,
ay, his most intimate friends with whom
he Mad quarrelled on that account remained
eceptics. How could he for q moment mis-
trust The Cuiltlessness of one who displayed
sdch cI fi1ence in him and his? How could
BE- ne - longing for the day when he should
iear h name spotless as a jewel from the
I.p"'I ands who sought TO soil it, or help
ir.4iIng at the inevitable delays which
oh.2.G ner to remain under the cloud of
foul asperion5 for weeks at least, perhaps
for months.
In the luncheon interval of the insurance