his very skin,--to double, treble,
the costs of arrests? And have you not sued for those costs for me as
eagerly as if they were due to yourself?"

"But, my dear fellow, this is very different; and, in my turn, I declare
I will not allow it."

"_Mon general_, you will really make me quite ashamed if you do not
allow me to make these inquiries as to Mlle. Alexandrine as a poor proof
of my gratitude."

"Well, well; be it so. I will no longer contend with your generosity;
and your devotion will be a sweet reward to me for considerations I have
always mixed up in our transactions."

"Very good, general; and now we understand each other. Is there anything
else I can do for you? You must be very uncomfortable here. I hope you
are _a la pistole_ (in a private room)?"

"Yes; I came just in time to get the only empty room,--the others are
being repaired. I have made myself as comfortable as possible in my
cell, and am not so very miserable. I have a stove and a very nice easy
chair; I make three long meals a day, and my digestion is good; then I
walk and go to sleep. Except my uneasiness about Alexandrine I have not
so much to complain of."

"But for you who were such an epicure, general, the prison diet is very
poor."

"Why, there is an excellent cookshop in my street, and I have a running
account with him, and so every two days he sends me a very nice supply.
And, by the way, I would get you to ask his wife--a nice little woman is
Madame Michonneau--to put into the basket a bit of pickled thunny. It is
in season now, and relishes one's wine."

"Capital idea!"

"And tell Madame Michonneau to send me a basket of various
wines,--burgundy, champagne, and bordeaux,--like the last; she'll know
what I mean. And tell her to put in two bottles of old cognac of 1817,
and a pound of pure Mocha, fresh roasted and ground."

"I'll put down the date of the cognac, lest I should forget it," said
Bourdin, taking a memorandum-book from his pocket.

"As you are writing, my good fellow, be so good as make a minute of my
wish to have an eider-down quilt from my house."

"All shall be done to the letter, general; make your mind easy. And now
I shall be comfortable about your living. But your walks; you are
compelled to take them along with those ruffians confined here?"

"Yes; and it's really very lively and animated. I go down after
breakfast; sometimes I go into one yard, sometimes another, and I mix
with the mob. Really they ap