s apartments for a term. What
a scamp he was! You have no idea of the horrible tricks he played off
upon all the lodgers as well as us. Why, just to give you one little
proof of his villainy, there was hardly a single wind instrument he did
not make use of as a sort of annoyance to the lodgers; from the French
horn to the flageolet, he made use of all, and even carried his
rascality so far as to play false and to keep blowing the same note for
hours together; it was enough to worry one out of one's senses. Well, I
suppose there were upwards of twenty different petitions sent to our
chief lessee, M. Bras Rouge, to turn the beggar out; and, at last, he
was only got rid of by paying him two quarters' rent,--rather droll, is
it not, for a landlord to pay his lodger? But, bless you, the house was
so upset by him that he might have had any price so he would but take
himself off; however, he _did_ go. And now you suppose we were clear of
M. Cabrion? I'll tell you. Next night, about eleven o'clock, I was in
bed, when rap, rap, rap, comes to the gate. I pulls up the
string,--somebody walks up to my door, 'How do you do, porter?' says a
voice; 'will you oblige me with a lock of your hair?' 'Somebody has
mistaken the door,' says my wife. So I calls out to the stranger, 'You
are wrong, friend, you want next door.' 'I think not,' returns the
voice; 'this is No. 17, is it not, and the porter's name is Pipelet? I'm
all right; so please to open the door and oblige me with a lock of your
beautiful hair.' 'My name is Pipelet, certainly,' answers I. 'Well,
then, friend Pipelet, Cabrion has sent me for a piece of your hair; he
says he must and he will have it.'"

As Pipelet uttered the last words he gave his head a mournful shake,
and, folding his arms, assumed an attitude of martyrlike resolution.

"Do you perceive, sir? He sends to me, his mortal enemy, whom he
overwhelmed with insults and continually outraged in every way, to beg a
lock of my hair,--a favour which even ladies have been known to refuse
to a lover!"

"But, supposing this Cabrion had been as good a lodger as was M.
Germain," replied Rodolph, with some difficulty preserving the gravity
of countenance, "do you think you might have accorded him the favour?"

"Not to the best lodger that treads shoe-leather would I grant a similar
request," replied the man in the flapped hat, waving it majestically
over his brows as he spoke; "it is contrary to my principles and habits
to