staunch friend, and one of whom a man might reasonably be proud.

The knave sniggered maliciously. 'A crooked dwarfish man left
it,' he said. 'I doubt I might call him a tailor and not be far
out.'

'Chut!' I answered--but I was a little out of countenance,
nevertheless. 'I understand. An honest fellow enough, and in
debt to me! I am glad he remembered. But when am I to go,
friend?'

'In an hour,' he answered sullenly. Doubtless he had looked to
get one of the crowns; but I was too old a hand for that. If I
came back I could buy his services; and if I did not I should
have wasted my money.

Nevertheless, a little later, when I found myself on my way to
the Hotel Richelieu under so close a guard that I could see
nothing in the street except the figures that immediately
surrounded me, I wished that I had given him the money. At such
times, when all hangs in the balance and the sky is overcast, the
mind runs on luck and old superstitions, and is prone to think a
crown given here may avail there--though THERE be a hundred
leagues away.

The Palais Richelieu was at this time in building, and we were
required to wait in a long, bare gallery, where the masons were
at work. I was kept a full hour here, pondering uncomfortably on
the strange whims and fancies of the great man who then ruled
France as the King's Lieutenant-General, with all the King's