he burgomaster," replied
Doctor Ox.

"Three or four months,--it's a very long time!" said Van
Tricasse.

"Altogether too long!" added Niklausse, who, not being able to
keep his seat, rose also.

"This lapse of time is necessary to complete our work," returned
Doctor Ox. "The workmen, whom we have had to choose in Quiquendone,
are not very expeditious."

[Illustration: "The workmen, whom we have had to choose in
Quiquendone, are not very expeditious."]

"How not expeditious?" cried the burgomaster, who seemed to take
the remark as personally offensive.

"No, Monsieur Van Tricasse," replied Doctor Ox obstinately. "A
French workman would do in a day what it takes ten of your
workmen to do; you know, they are regular Flemings!"

"Flemings!" cried the counsellor, whose fingers closed together.
"In what sense, sir, do you use that word?"

"Why, in the amiable sense in which everybody uses it," replied
Doctor Ox, smiling.

"Ah, but doctor," said the burgomaster, pacing up and down the
room, "I don't like these insinuations. The workmen of Quiquendone
are as efficient as those of any other town in the world, you must
know; and we shall go neither to Paris nor London for our models!
As for your project, I beg you to hasten its execution. Our streets
have been unpaved for the putting down of your conduit-pipes, and it
is a hindrance to traffic. Our trade will begin to suffer, and I,
being the responsible authority, do not propose to incur reproaches
which will be but too just."

Worthy burgomaster! He spoke of trade, of traffic, and the wonder
was that those words, to which he was quite unaccustomed, did not
scorch his lips. What could be passing in his mind?

"Besides," added Niklausse, "the town cannot be deprived of light
much longer."

"But," urged Doctor Ox, "a town which has been un-lighted for
eight or nine hundred years--"

"All the more necessary is it," replied the burgomaster,
emphasizing his words. "Times alter, manners alter! The world
advances, and we do not wish to remain behind. We desire our
streets to be lighted within a month, or you must pay a large
indemnity for each day of delay; and what would happen if, amid
the darkness, some affray should take place?"

"No doubt," cried Niklausse. "It requires but a spark to inflame
a Fleming! Fleming! Flame!"

"Apropos of this," said the burgomaster, interrupting his friend,
"Commissary Passauf, our chief of police, reports to us that a
discussio