marionettes into the bargain,
which is the worst thing of all. You see them exposed under this flimsy
cloth to the fine rain that chills our bones. For, I must tell you,
Father, that after having been a publican, I now make dancing-dolls for
a living."

The Pere Longuemare took the hand the _ci-devant_ financier extended to
him and accepted the hospitality offered. Brotteaux, in his garret,
served him a meal of bread and cheese and wine, which last he had put to
cool in the rain-gutter, for was he not a Sybarite?

Having appeased his hunger:

"Sir," said the Pere Longuemare, "I ought to inform you of the
circumstances that led to my flight and left me to die on yonder post
where you found me. Driven from my cloister, I lived on the scanty
allowance the Assembly had assigned to me; I gave lessons in Latin and
Mathematics and I wrote pamphlets on the persecution of the Church of
France. I have even composed a work of some length, to prove that the
Constitutional oath of the Priests is subversive of Ecclesiastical
discipline. The advances made by the Revolution deprived me of all my
pupils, while I could not get my pension because I had not the
certificate of citizenship required by law. This certificate I went to
the Hotel de Ville to claim, in the conviction I was well entitled to
it. Member of an order founded by the Apostle Paul himself, who boasted
the title of Roman citizen, I always piqued myself on behaving after his
example as a good French citizen, a respecter of all human laws which
are not in opposition to the Divine. I presented my demand to Monsieur
Colin, pork-butcher and Municipal officer, in charge of the delivery of
certificates of the sort. He questioned me as to my calling. I told him
I was a Priest. He asked me if I was married, and on my answering that I
was not, he told me that was the worse for me. Finally, after a variety
of questions, he asked me if I had proved my citizenship on the 10th
August, the 2nd September and the 31st May. 'No certificates can be
given,' he added, 'except to such as have proved their patriotism by
their behaviour on these three occasions.' I could not give him an
answer that would satisfy him. However, he took down my name and address
and promised me to make prompt enquiry into my case. He kept his word,
and as the result of his enquiry two Commissioners of the Committee of
General Security of Picpus, supported by an armed band, presented
themselves at my lodging in my