oney."

"Citizen," said the stout man astonished, "you describe the thing as if
you had seen it."

"Monsieur was there, perhaps," said one of the travellers, half in jest,
half in earnest.

"I do not know, citizen, whether in saying that you intend a rudeness,"
carelessly observed the young man who had so pertinently and obligingly
come to the narrator's assistance, "but my political opinions are
such that I do not consider your suspicion an insult. Had I had the
misfortune to be among those attacked, or the honor to be one of those
who made the attack, I should admit it as frankly in the one case as in
the other. But yesterday at ten o'clock, at precisely the moment when
the diligence was stopped, twelve miles from here, I was breakfasting
quietly in this very seat. And, by-the-bye, with the two citizens who
now do me the honor to sit beside me."

"And," asked the younger of the two travellers who had lately joined the
table, whom his companion called Roland, "how many men were you in the
diligence?"

"Let me think; we were--yes, that's it--we were seven men and three
women."

"Seven men, not including the conductor?" repeated Roland.

"Yes."

"And you seven men allowed yourselves to be plundered by four brigands?
I congratulate you, gentlemen."

"We knew with whom we had to deal," replied the wine merchant, "and we
took good care not to defend ourselves."

"What! with whom you had to deal?" retorted the young man. "Why, it
seems to me, with thieves and bandits."

"Not at all. They gave their names."

"They gave their names?"

"They said, 'Gentlemen, it is useless to defend yourselves; ladies, do
not be alarmed, we are not bandits, we are Companions of Jehu.'"

"Yes," said the young man of the table d'hote, "they warned you that
there might be no misunderstanding. That's their way."

"Ah, indeed!" exclaimed Roland; "and who is this Jehu who has such
polite companions? Is he their captain?"

"Sir," said a man whose dress betrayed somewhat the secularized priest,
and who seemed also to be, not only an habitual guest at the table
d'hote, but also an initiate into the mysteries of the honorable company
whose merits were then under discussion, "if you were better versed than
you seem to be in the Holy Scriptures, you would know that this Jehu
died something like two thousand six hundred years ago, and that
consequently he cannot at the present time stop coaches on the
highways."

"Monsieur l'Abbe," r