"Why?"

"You will then see for yourself--see with your own eyes."

"But the regulations?"

"Never mind them. To-day my major has leave of absence; the lieutenant
is visiting the post on the bastions; we are sole masters of the
situation."

"No, no, my dear governor; why, the very idea of the sound of the bolts
makes me shudder. You will only have to forget me in second or fourth
Bertaudiere, and then----"

"You are refusing an opportunity that may never present itself again. Do
you know that, to obtain the favor I propose to you gratis, some of the
princes of the blood have offered me as much as fifty thousand francs."

"Really! he must be worth seeing, then?"

"Forbidden fruit, my lord, forbidden fruit. You who belong to the church
ought to know that."

"Well, if I had any curiosity, it would be to see the poor author of the
distich."

"Very well, we will see him, too; but if I were at all curious, it would
be about the beautiful carpeted room and its lodger."

"Furniture is very commonplace; and a face with no expression in it
offers little or no interest."

"But a boarder at fifteen francs is always interesting."

"By the by, I forgot to ask you about that. Why fifteen francs for him,
and only three francs for poor Seldon?"

"The distinction made in that instance was a truly noble act, and one
which displayed the king's goodness of heart to great advantage."

"The king's, you say."

"The cardinal's, I mean. 'This unhappy man,' said M. Mazarin, 'is
destined to remain in prison forever.'"

"Why so?"

"Why, it seems that his crime is a lasting one, and, consequently, his
punishment ought to be so, too."

"Lasting?"

"No doubt of it, unless he is fortunate enough to catch the small-pox,
and even that is difficult, for we never get any impure air here."

"Nothing can be more ingenious than your train of reasoning, my dear M.
de Baisemeaux. Do you, however, mean to say that this unfortunate man
must suffer without interruption or termination?"

"I did not say he was to suffer, my lord, a fifteen-franc boarder does
not suffer."

"He suffers imprisonment, at all events."

"No doubt; there is no help for that, but this suffering is sweetened
for him. You must admit that this young fellow was not born to eat all
the good things he does eat; for instance, such things as we have on the
table now; this pasty that has not been touched, these crawfish from the
River Marne, of which we have hardly