hurry and in a
cab, and before I could stop the cabman both of you had disappeared.
Will you mind telling me his name?" "I recollect being in the Rue
Vivienne and meeting with M. Samson of the Comedie-Francaise," I
answered. "I thought so," remarked my interlocutor. "Allow me to thank
you, monsieur." With this he lifted his hat and went out.

The incident had slipped my memory altogether, when I was reminded of it
by Samson himself, about three weeks afterwards, in the green-room of
the Comedie-Francaise. I had been there but a few moments when he came
in. "You are the man who betrayed me," he said with a chuckle. "I have
been cudgelling my brain for the last three weeks as to who it could
have been, for I spoke to no less than half a dozen friends and
acquaintances in the Rue Vivienne on the morning I met you, and they all
wear imperials and moustaches. A nice thing you have done for me; you
have burdened me with a grateful friend for the rest of my life!"

And then he told me the story, how two years before he had been at
Granville during the end of the summer; how he had strolled into the
Palais de Justice and heard the procureur-imperial make a speech for the
prosecution, the delivery of which would have disgraced his most
backward pupil at the Conservatoire. "I was very angry with the fellow,
and felt inclined to write him a letter, telling him that there was no
need to torture the innocent audience, as well as the prisoner in the
dock. I should have signed it. I do not know why I did not, but judge of
my surprise when, the same evening at dinner, I found myself seated
opposite him. I must have scowled at him, and he repaid scowl for scowl.
It appears that he was living at the hotel temporarily, while his wife
and child were away. I need not tell you the high opinion our judges
have of themselves, and I dare say he thought it the height of
impertinence that I, a simple mortal, should stare at him. I soon came
to the conclusion, however, that if I wanted to spare my
fellow-creatures such an infliction as I had endured that day, I ought
not to arouse the man's anger. So I looked more mild, then entered into
conversation with him. You should have seen his face when I began to
criticize his tone and gestures. But he evidently felt that I was
somewhat of an authority on the subject, and at last I took him out on
the beach and gave him a lesson in delivering a speech, and left him
there without revealing my name. Next