d been broken away.

"Look at the wall! He must have climbed over into the 30
lane! And all our silver stolen! What a crime!"

After a moment's silence, the Bishop said earnestly to
Madame Magloire,

"As a matter of fact, was the silver really ours?"

The old housekeeper stood speechless. The Bishop
continued, 5

"It was wrong of me to keep that silver; it belonged
rightfully to the poor. And that man was a poor man,
surely."

"Oh, Monseigneur!" murmured Madame Magloire,
"neither Mademoiselle your sister, nor I, care about the 10
silver. It was only for you. What will Monseigneur eat
with now?"

"Are not pewter forks and spoons to be had?" said the
Bishop.

"Pewter smells," said Madame Magloire. 15

"Then iron?" continued the Bishop.

"Iron has a bad taste," and Madame Magloire grimaced
expressively.

"That still leaves wood," exclaimed the Bishop triumphantly.
Later, at breakfast, the Bishop jokingly commented 20
to his silent sister and grumbling housekeeper, that
for a breakfast of bread and milk even a wooden fork was
unnecessary.

"Just think of it," muttered Madame Magloire as she
trotted back and forth between the dining room and kitchen, 25
"to take in a convict like that, and let him eat and sleep
with decent people. It's lucky that he didn't do worse
than steal. It terrifies one just to think of what might have
happened."

At the moment that the Bishop and his sister were 30
leaving the table, there was a knock at the door.

"Enter," said the Bishop.

The door opened, and there appeared three gendarmes
holding a man by the collar. The man was Jean Valjean.
The leader of the party, a corporal, saluted the Bishop.

"Monseigneur," he began.

Jean Valjean looked up, dazed. 5

"Monseigneur!" he muttered, "then this is not an inn.
He is not just a priest!"

"Silence," commanded the corporal. "This is Monseigneur
the Bishop."

The aged Bishop was making his way to Jean Valjean as 10
rapidly as he could.

"Ah, here you are again," he said, "I am glad to see
you. You know I gave you the candlesticks, too. Why
did you not take them? They are worth at least 200
francs. You should have take