"That proves," said Dubois, "what a sensible woman your mother was."
"Well, monseigneur! I am ready; what must I do?"
"Ah! mon Dieu! the thing is very simple, you will make me, now, and here, copies of all these."
"That is not all, my dear Monsieur Buvat. You will take back to the person who gave you these papers, the copies and the originals, you will take all that that person gives you; you will bring them to me directly, so that I may read them, then you will do the same with other papers as with these, and so on indefinitely, till I say enough."
"But, monseigneur, it seems to me that in acting thus I should betray the confidence of the prince."
"Ah! it is with a prince that you have business, Monsieur Buvat! and what may this prince be called?"
"Oh, monseigneur, it appears to me that in telling you his name I denounce--"
"Well, and what have you come here for, then?"
"Monseigneur, I have come here to inform you of the danger which his highness runs, that is all."
"Indeed," said Dubois, in a bantering tone, "and you imagine you are going to stop there?"
"There is only one misfortune, that it is impossible, my dear Monsieur Buvat."
"Monseigneur, I still wish to keep silence."
"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!"
"Yes, on you; under the pretext that they do not pay you your salary, you entertain seditious proposals against the State."
"Under the pretext of their not paying you your salary, you have been making copies of incendiary documents for the last four days."
"Monseigneur, I only found it out yesterday; I do not understand Spanish."
"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."
"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 noblemen 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."