--Aramis was meditating.

"I was saying," continued Baisemeaux, "that a good-sized fowl costs me
a franc and a half, and that a fine fish costs me four or five francs.
Three meals are served at the Bastile, and, as the prisoners, having
nothing to do, are always eating, a ten-franc man costs me seven francs
and a half."

"But did you not say that you treated those at ten francs like those at
fifteen?"

"Yes, certainly."

"Very well! Then you gain seven francs and a half upon those who pay you
fifteen francs."

"I must compensate myself somehow," said Baisemeaux, who saw how he had
been snapped up.

"You are quite right, my dear governor; but have you no prisoners below
ten francs?"

"Oh, yes! we have citizens and barristers at five francs.

"And do they eat, too?"

"Not a doubt about it; only you understand that they do not get fish or
poultry, nor rich wines at every meal; but at all events thrice a week
they have a good dish at their dinner."

"Really, you are quite a philanthropist, my dear governor, and you will
ruin yourself."

"No, understand me; when the fifteen-franc has not eaten his fowl, or
the ten-franc has left his dish unfinished, I send it to the five-franc
prisoner; it is a feast for the poor devil, and one must be charitable,
you know."

"And what do you make out of your five-franc prisoners?"

"A franc and a half."

"Baisemeaux, you're an honest fellow; in honest truth I say so."

"Thank you, my lord. But I feel most for the small tradesmen and
bailiffs' clerks, who are rated at three francs. They do not often see
Rhine carp or Channel sturgeon."

"But do not the five-franc gentlemen sometimes leave some scraps?"

"Oh! my lord, do not believe I am so stingy as that; I delight the heart
of some poor little tradesman or clerk by sending him a wing of a red
partridge, a slice of venison, or a slice of a truffled pasty, dishes
which he never tasted except in his dreams; these are the leavings of
the twenty-four franc prisoners; and as he eats and drinks, at dessert
he cries 'Long live the King,' and blesses the Bastile; with a couple
of bottles of champagne, which cost me five sous, I made him tipsy every
Sunday. That class of people call down blessings upon me, and are sorry
to leave the prison. Do you know that I have remarked, and it does me
infinite honor, that certain prisoners, who have been set at liberty,
have, almost immediately afterwards, got imprisoned again? Why should