important were coming. Perhaps he would yet earn the promised reward.
Morcerf was listening attentively.

"No, sacre nom d' un chien, I was not always a zigue! Once I had immense
wealth, I counted my money by millions! I had position, too, and I may
say without egotism that I was honored by the best people of Paris!"

He paused and drained another glass of brandy.

"What were you?" asked Mange.

Albert waited breathlessly for the answer to this question.

"What was I?" repeated Bouche-de-Miel. "You may laugh, but I was a
banker!"

Morcerf could not avoid giving a start. The vagabond, half-drunk as he
was, noticed it and asked:

"What is the matter with you, Fouquier? Do you think the lie so
tremendous that you can't keep still?"

The young man was glad to accept this interpretation of his behavior; he
touched his glass to his lips and said, with a forced smile:

"Well, I do think you are going it rather strong!"

"Not half strong enough, mon Dieu!" cried Bouche-de-Miel, bringing his
fist down on the table with such force that the glasses were nearly
knocked off. "Not half strong enough, I tell you, messieurs, for I was
a Baron as well as a banker!"

Albert groaned. Mange looked at him with sparkling eyes; he was now sure
that the promised money was within his reach, that his clutch would soon
close on it. His enforced sobriety since he had been in the Captain's
employ made him anxious for a prolonged, reckless spree, frightfully
anxious, and his guarded potations since he entered the caboulot had
whetted his devouring appetite for alcohol to such an extent that he
could scarcely keep it in subjection with the plentiful supply of brandy
on the table, almost at his very lips.

Bouche-de-Miel did not hear Morcerf's groan; his misty eyes were fixed
upon space, seemed to be peering into the depths and recesses of the
distant past. The Captain judged that the time had come to draw the
final, the crowning admission from his lips. He touched him lightly on
the arm. The man turned and glanced at him inquiringly. Morcerf's heart
beat wildly; it was with great difficulty that he kept his agitation
under control. He hurriedly scanned the other occupants of the
room--some were very drunk and stupid, others noisy and demonstrative,
but all were too busy with their own concerns and pleasures to pay even
the slightest attention to the little party at the table; Waldmann and
Siebecker were asleep on opposite ends of a ben