"What trick can we play that cove?" said the third clerk, whose name
was Godeschal, in a low voice, pausing in the middle of a discourse he
was extemporizing in an appeal engrossed by the fourth clerk, of which
copies were being made by two neophytes from the provinces.

Then he went on improvising:

"/But, in his noble and beneficent wisdom, his Majesty, Louis the
Eighteenth/--(write it at full length, heh! Desroches the learned
--you, as you engross it!)--/when he resumed the reins of Government,
understood/--(what did that old nincompoop ever understand?)--/the
high mission to which he had been called by Divine Providence!/--(a
note of admiration and six stops. They are pious enough at the Courts
to let us put six)--/and his first thought, as is proved by the date
of the order hereinafter designated, was to repair the misfortunes
caused by the terrible and sad disasters of the revolutionary times,
by restoring to his numerous and faithful adherents/--('numerous' is
flattering, and ought to please the Bench)--/all their unsold estates,
whether within our realm, or in conquered or acquired territory, or in
the endowments of public institutions, for we are, and proclaim
ourselves competent to declare, that this is the spirit and meaning of
the famous, truly loyal order given in/--Stop," said Godeschal to the
three copying clerks, "that rascally sentence brings me to the end of
my page.--Well," he went on, wetting the back fold of the sheet with
his tongue, so as to be able to fold back the page of thick stamped
paper, "well, if you want to play him a trick, tell him that the
master can only see his clients between two and three in the morning;
we shall see if he comes, the old ruffian!"