and yet Chupin bowed none the less
politely as he left the little office. "This is bad," he growled, as
he walked away, for he was really at a loss what to do next; and if not
discouraged, he was at least extremely disconcerted and perplexed. Ah!
if he had only had a card from the prefecture of police in his pocket,
or if he had been more imposing in appearance, he would have encountered
no obstacles; he might then have tracked this cab through the streets
of Paris as easily as he could have followed a man bearing a lighted
lantern through the darkness. But poor and humble, without letters of
recommendation, and with no other auxiliaries than his own shrewdness
and experience, he had a great deal to contend against. Pausing in his
walk, he had taken off his cap and was scratching his head furiously,
when suddenly he exclaimed: "What an ass I am!" in so loud a tone that
several passers-by turned to see who was applying this unflattering
epithet to himself.

Chupin had just remembered one of M. Isidore Fortunat's debtors, a man
whom he often visited in the hope of extorting some trifling amount
from him, and who was employed in the Central office of the Paris Cab
Company. "If any one can help me out of this difficulty, it must be that
fellow," he said to himself. "I hope I shall find him at his desk! Come,
Victor, my boy, you must look alive!"

However, he could not present himself at the office in the garb he
then wore, and so, much against his will, he went home and changed
his clothes. Then he took a cab at his own expense, and drove with all
possible speed to the main office of the Cab Company, in the Avenue de
Segur. Nevertheless it was already ten o'clock when he arrived there.
He was more fortunate than he had dared to hope. The man he wanted
had charge of a certain department, and was compelled to return to the
office every evening after dinner. He was there now.

He was a poor devil who, while receiving a salary of fifteen hundred
francs a year, spent a couple of thousand, and utilized his wits in
defending his meagre salary from his creditors. On perceiving Chupin,
he made a wrathful gesture, and his first words were: "I haven't got a
penny."

But Chupin smiled his most genial smile. "What!" said he, "do you fancy
I've come to collect money from you here, and at this hour? You don't
know me. I merely came to ask a favor of you."

The clerk's clouded face brightened. "Since that is the case, pray take
a sea