th this strange designation, and addressed himself
to the lad who bore it.

"My good boy," said he, "I think you were here an hour ago. Did you see
anything of three gentlemen who came out of the house and stood talking
together for a short time?"

The lad turned sharply round and examined his questioner from tip to toe
with an air of the most supreme impertinence; and then, in a tone which
matched his look, replied,--

"What does it signify to you who they are? Mind your own business, and
be off!"

Andre had had some little experience of this delightful class of street
arab, of which Toto Chupin was so favorable a specimen, and knew their
habits, customs, and language.

"Come, my chicken," said he, "spit it out, it won't blister your tongue,
to answer a man who asks a civil question."

"Well, then, I saw 'em, sharp enough, and what then?"

"Why, that I should like to have their names if they have such an
article belonging to 'em!"

Toto raised his cap and scratched his head, as if to stimulate his
brains, and as he brushed up his thick head of dirty yellow hair, he
eyed Andre cunningly.

"And suppose I know the blokes' names and tells 'em out to you, what
will you stand?" asked he.

"Ten sous."

The delightful youth puffed out his cheeks, then expelled the pent-up
wind by a sudden slap, as a mark of his disgust at the meanness of the
offer.

"Pull up your braces, my lord," said he sarcastically, "or you'll be
losing the contents of your breeches pockets. Ten sous, indeed! Perhaps
you'd like me to lend 'em to yer?"

Andre smiled pleasantly.

"Did you think, my little man, that I was going to offer you twenty
thousand shiners?" asked he.

"Won again!" cried Toto; "I laid myself a new hat that you weren't a
fool, and I have collared the stakes."

"Why do you think I am not a fool?"

"Because a fool would have begun by offering me five francs and gone up
slick to ten, while you began at a modest figure."

The painter smiled.

"But you were too old a bird to be caught like that," continued the
lad; and as he spoke, he stopped, and contracted his brow as if in deep
perplexity. Of course he was acquainted with the names, but ought he
to give them? Instantly he scented an enemy. Harmless people did not
usually ask questions of itinerant chestnut venders, and to open
his mouth might be to injure Mascarin, Beaumarchef, or the guileless
Tantaine.

This last thought determined the lad.

"Keep your te