“Oh, yes, indeed! a miserable, five-franc rat!”

“Let me see it,” asked M.

d’Herblay. “It is no indiscretion?”

“By no means; read it.”

“There is ‘Urgent,’ on the paper; you have seen that, I suppose?”

“Oh, admirable! ‘Urgent!’ — a man who has been there ten years! It is urgent to set him free to-day, this very evening, at eight o’clock! — urgent!” And Baisemeaux, shrugging his shoulders with an air of supreme disdain, flung the order on the table and began eating again.

“They are fond of these tricks!” he said, with his mouth full;