seven ounces of snuff which I
bought at St. Omer three weeks ago, this gentleman robs me and interrupts
my journey, though the king's majesty is my surety that no one shall
interfere with me; he calls on me to pay fifty louis, he delivers me to
the rage of his impudent menials and to the derision of the mob, from
whom I had to rid myself by my money and the aid of this worthy man
beside me. I am treated like a scoundrel, and the man who should have
been my defender and deliverer slinks away and hides himself, and adds to
the insults I have received. His myrmidons have turned my clothes upside
down, and pitchforked my linen at the foot of the town gates, to revenge
themselves on me for not giving them twenty, four sous. To-morrow the
manner in which I have been treated will be known to the diplomatic
bodies at Versailles and Paris, and in a few days it will be in all the
newspapers. I will pay not a farthing because I owe not a farthing. Now,
sir, am I to send a courier to the Duc de Gesvres?"

"What you have got to do is to pay, and if you do not care to pay, you
may do whatever you like."

"Then, ladies and gentlemen, good-bye. As for you, sir, we shall meet
again."

As I was rushing out of the room like a madman, I heard somebody calling
out to me in good Italian to wait a minute. I turned round, and saw the
voice had proceeded from a man past middle age, who addressed the
superintendent thus:--

"Let this gentleman proceed on his journey; I will go bail for him. Do
you understand me, superintendent? I will be his surety. You don't know
these Italians. I went through the whole of the last war in Italy, and I
understand the national character. Besides, I think the gentleman is in
the right."

"Very good," said the official, turning to me. "All you have to do is to
pay a matter of thirty or forty francs at the customs' office as the
affair is already booked."

"I thought I told you that I would not pay a single farthing, and I tell
it you again. But who are you, sir," said I, turning to the worthy old
man, "who are good enough to become surety for me without knowing me?"

"I am a commissary of musters, sir, and my name is de la Bretonniere. I
live in Paris at the 'Hotel de Saxe,' Rue Colombien, where I shall be
glad to see you after to-morrow. We will go together to M. Britard, who,
after hearing your case, will discharge my bail."

After I had expressed my gratitude, and told him that I would wait upon
him w