"I'll put down the date of the cognac, lest I should forget it," said Bourdin, taking a memorandum-book from his pocket.
"As you are writing, my good fellow, be so good as make a minute of my wish to have an eider-down quilt from my house."
"All shall be done to the letter, general; make your mind easy. And now I shall be comfortable about your living. But your walks; you are compelled to take them along with those ruffians confined here?"
"Yes; and it's really very lively and animated. I go down after breakfast; sometimes I go into one yard, sometimes another, and I mix with the mob. Really they appear very good sort of fellows! Some of them are very amusing. The most ferocious are collected in what is called the Fosse aux Lions. Ah, my good fellow, what hang-dog-looking fellows there are amongst them. There's one they call the Skeleton,--I never saw such a creature."
"He is so thin, or rather bare of flesh, that this is the nickname which has been given to him; he is really frightful. He is, besides, director of his ward, and, moreover, an infernal villain. He has just left the galleys, and went directly to murder and assassination. But his last murder was really horrible, as he knew he should be condemned to death without chance of remission; but he laughs at it."
"All the prisoners admire and tremble before him. I got into his good graces at once by offering him some cigars, and so he made a friend of me at once, and offered to teach me slang; and I have made considerable progress."
"Oh, what an idea!--my general learning slang!"
"I amuse myself as much as I can, and all these fellows adore me. I am not proud like a young fellow they call Germain, who gives himself the airs of a lord."
"But he must be delighted at meeting with such a gentleman as you, even if he is disgusted with the others."
"Why, really, he did not seem even to notice that I was there; but, if he had, I should have taken care how I took any notice of him. He is the _bête noire_ of the whole prison, and some day or other they'll play him a slippery trick; and, _pardieu!_ I have no wish to come in for my share of what may befall him."
"It would interfere with my pleasures, for my walk with the prisoners is really a pleasure to me; only these ruffians have no great opinion of me morally. You see, my accusation of a simple breach of trust is contemptible in the eyes of these out-and-outers; and they look on me as a nobody."