aching my monkey a trick I wish him to learn. I want to get up a
scene between Gringalet and my monkey. I attend to my business, and I
only wish other people would do the same, and not trouble themselves
with what does not concern them.' 'And I tell you that I have a right to
interfere in the present case, and that it is my duty so to do. This
morning when I missed Gringalet from among the other children who passed
by my window, I inquired of them where he was. They did not make me any
answer, but hung down their heads, and seemed confused. I know you,
therefore suspected the boy was kept back for some bad purpose, and it
seems I was not mistaken.

"'Now, just listen to me. Every day that I do not see Gringalet pass my
door with the other lads, I will come here to know the reason, whether
you like it or not; and what's more, you shall produce him alive and
well, or--or--or--I'll--I'll knock you down!' 'I shall do precisely as I
please with the boy, without asking your leave,' answered Cut-in-Half,
excessively irritated by this threat of keeping him under surveillance;
'you'll just please to keep your hands to yourself; and if you do not
take yourself off, and if ever you presume to show your face here again,
I'll--I'll--' 'Take that, then, as an earnest of the future!' cried Le
Doyen, interrupting Cut-in-Half by a couple of blows heavy enough to
knock down a rhinoceros; 'you deserve that and more, too, for presuming
to answer Le Doyen of La Petite Pologne in so impertinent a manner.'"

"O Lord! Lord!" groaned forth the man in the blue cap, "only two blows!
I wish I had had the handling of him. He should have had a round dozen
to begin with, and afterwards I would have knocked all his teeth down
his throat!"

"As far as strength went," continued Pique-Vinaigre, "Le Doyen could
have killed and eaten a score of such fellows as the beast-master, so
Cut-in-Half was compelled to pocket the affront. But he was not the less
incensed at being struck in the presence of Gringalet, and well did he
promise himself to be richly avenged for the indignity he had sustained;
and an idea suddenly suggested itself to him, which could only have
originated in the mind of a fiend of malice like himself. While he was
meditating on his diabolical scheme, Le Doyen said, 'Bear in mind that
if you torment this poor boy any more I will just make you and your
menagerie turn out and quit La Petite Pologne, or I will bring the whole
neighbourhood to