tte," said Colleville; "as for me, I'd follow up
all the Portails, or Port_ers_, or Port_ents_ for the matter of that, if
they asked me to."

The scene was beginning to resemble that in the "Barber of Seville,"
where everybody tells Basil to go to bed, for he certainly has a fever.
La Peyrade, thus prodded, picked up his hat in some ill-humor, and went
where his destiny called him,--"quo sua fata vocabant."

CHAPTER XV. AT DU PORTAIL'S

On reaching the rue Honore-Chevalier la Peyrade felt a doubt; the
dilapidated appearance of the house to which he was summoned made him
think he had mistaken the number. It seemed to him that a person of
Monsieur du Portail's evident importance could not inhabit such a place.
It was therefore with some hesitation that he accosted Sieur Perrache,
the porter. But no sooner had he entered the antechamber of the
apartment pointed out to him than the excellent deportment of Bruneau,
the old valet, and the extremely comfortable appearance of the furniture
and other appointments made him see that he was probably in the right
place. Introduced at once, as soon as he had given his name, into the
study of the master of the house, his surprise was great when he found
himself in presence of the commander, so called, the friend of Madame
de Godollo, and the little old man he had seen half an hour earlier with
Thuillier.

"At last!" said du Portail, rising, and offering la Peyrade a chair, "at
last we meet, my refractory friend; it has taken a good deal to bring
you here."

"May I know, monsieur," said la Peyrade, haughtily, not taking the chair
which was offered to him, "what interest you have in meddling with my
affairs? I do not know you, and I may add that the place where I once
saw you did not create an unconquerable desire in me to make your
acquaintance."

"Where have you seen me?" asked du Portail.

"In the apartment of a strumpet who called herself Madame de Godollo."

"Where monsieur, consequently, went himself," said the little old man,
"and for a purpose much less disinterested than mine."

"I have not come here," said la Peyrade, "to bandy words with any one.
I have the right, monsieur, to a full explanation as to the meaning of
your proceedings towards me. I therefore request you not to delay them
by a facetiousness to which, I assure you, I am not in the humor to
listen."

"Then, my dear fellow," said du Portail, "sit down, for I am not in the
humor to twist my neck b