he
'railroads.' As there are many Corsican police officials on the
Continent, they make use of an honest euphemism to describe their
degrading occupation in their family circle. You ask the kinsmen of
one of them, 'Where's your brother Ambrosini?' 'What is your Uncle
Barbicaglia doing?' They will answer, with a little wink: 'He has a
place on the railroad;' and everybody knows what that means. Among
the lower classes, the peasants, who have never seen a railroad and
have no idea what it is, there is a perfectly serious belief that
the great department of the secret imperial police has no other
name than that. Our principal agent in the island shares that
touching innocence; this will give you an idea of the condition of
the _Line from Ajaccio to Bastia via Bonifacio, Porto Vecchio,
etc._, which figures on the great books with green backs in the
Paganetti establishment. In a word, all the assets of the
territorial bank are comprised in a few desks and two old
hovels--the whole hardly worthy of a place in the rubbish-yard on
Rue Saint-Ferdinand, where I hear the weathercocks creaking and the
old doors slamming every night as I fall asleep.

"But in that case what has been done, what is being done with the
enormous sums that M. Jansoulet has poured into the treasury in the
last five months, to say nothing of what has come from other
sources attracted by that magic name? I fully agreed with you that
all these soundings and borings and purchases of land, which appear
on the books in a fine round hand, were immeasurably exaggerated.
But how could any one suspect such infernal impudence? That is why
M. le Gouverneur was so disgusted at the idea of taking me on this
electoral trip. I have not thought it best to have an explanation
on the spot. My poor Nabob has enough on his mind with his
election. But, as soon as we have returned, I shall place all the
details of my long investigation before his eyes; and I will
extricate him from this den of thieves by persuasion or by force.
They have finished their negotiations downstairs. Old Piedigriggio
is crossing the square, playing with his long peasant's purse,
which looks to me to be well-filled. The bargain is concluded, I
suppose. A hasty adieu, my dear Monsieur Joyeuse; remember me to
the young ladies, and bid them keep a tiny place for m