"Monseigneur, I am an honest man."
"M. Buvat, you are a fool."
"Monseigneur, I still wish to keep silence."
"My dear monsieur, you will speak."
"And if I speak I shall be the informer against the prince."
"If you do not speak you are his accomplice."
"His accomplice, monseigneur! and of what crime?"
"Of the crime of high treason. Ah! the police have had their eyes on you this long time, M. Buvat!"
"On me, monseigneur?"
"Yes, on you; under the pretext that they do not pay you your salary, you entertain seditious proposals against the State."
"Oh! monseigneur, how can they say so?"
"Under the pretext of their not paying you your salary, you have been making copies of incendiary doc.u.ments for the last four days."
"Monseigneur, I only found it out yesterday; I do not understand Spanish."
"You do understand it, monsieur?"
"I swear, monseigneur."
"I tell you you do understand it, and the proof is that there is not a mistake in your copies. But that is not all."
"How, not all?"
"No, that is not all. Is this Spanish? Look, monsieur," and he read:
""Nothing is more important than to make sure of the places in the neighborhood of the Pyrenees, and the n.o.blemen who reside in the cantons.""
"But, monseigneur, it was just by that that I made the discovery."
"M. Buvat, they have sent men to the galleys for less than you have done."
"Monseigneur!"
"M. Buvat, men have been hanged who were less guilty than you."
"Monseigneur! monseigneur!"
"M. Buvat, they have been broken on the wheel."
"Mercy, monseigneur, mercy!"
"Mercy to a criminal like you, M. Buvat! I shall send you to the Bastille, and Mademoiselle Bathilde to Saint Lazare."
"To Saint Lazare! Bathilde at Saint Lazare, monseigneur! Bathilde at Saint Lazare! and who has the right to do that?"----"I, M. Buvat."
"No, monseigneur, you have not the right!" cried Buvat, who could fear and suffer everything for himself, but who, at the thought of such infamy, from a worm became a serpent. "Bathilde is not a daughter of the people, monseigneur! Bathilde is a lady of n.o.ble birth, the daughter of a man who saved the life of the regent, and when I represent to his highness--"
"You will go first to the Bastille, M. Buvat," said Dubois, pulling the bell so as nearly to break it, "and then we shall see about Mademoiselle Bathilde."
"Monseigneur, what are you doing?"
"You will see." (The usher entered.) "An officer of police, and a carriage."
"Monseigneur!" cried Buvat, "all that you wish--"
"Do as I have bid you," said Dubois.
The usher went out.
"Monseigneur!" said Buvat, joining his hands; "monseigneur, I will obey."
"No, M. Buvat. Ah! you wish a trial, you shall have one. You want a rope, you shall not be disappointed."
"Monseigneur," cried Buvat, falling on his knees, "what must I do?"
"Hang, hang, hang!" continued Dubois.
"Monseigneur," said the usher, returning, "the carriage is at the door, and the officer in the anteroom."
"Monseigneur," said Buvat, twisting his little legs, and tearing out the few yellow hairs which he had left, "monseigneur, will you be pitiless!"
"Ah! you will not tell me the name of the prince?"
"It is the Prince de Listhnay, monseigneur."
"Ah! you will not tell me his address?"
"He lives at No. 110, Rue du Bac, monseigneur."
"You will not make me copies of those papers?"
"I will do it, I will do it this instant," said Buvat; and he went and sat down before the desk, took a pen, dipped it in the ink, and taking some paper, began the first page with a superb capital. "I will do it, I will do it, monseigneur; only you will allow me to write to Bathilde that I shall not be home to dinner. Bathilde at the Saint Lazare?"
murmured Buvat between his teeth, "Sabre de bois! he would have done as he said."
"Yes, monsieur, I would have done that, and more too, for the safety of the State, as you will find out to your cost, if you do not return these papers, and if you do not take the others, and if you do not bring a copy here every evening."
"But, monseigneur," cried Buvat, in despair, "I cannot then go to my office."