considerable prices."

Again the unknown colored. "Name your terms," said he.

"I name them with scruple, monsieur, because I seek an honest gain, and
that I wish to carry on my business without being uncivil or extravagant
in my demands. Now the room you occupy is considerable, and you are
alone."

"That is my business."

"Oh! certainly. I do not mean to turn monsieur out."

The blood rushed to the temples of the unknown; he darted at poor
Cropole‚ the descendant of one of the officers of the Marechal d'Ancre, a
glance that would have crushed him down to beneath that famous chimney-
slab, if Cropole had not been nailed to the spot by the question of his
own proper interests.

"Do you desire me to go?" said he. "Explain yourself - but quickly."

"Monsieur, monsieur, you do not understand me. It is very critical - I
know - that which I am doing. I express myself badly, or perhaps, as
monsieur is a foreigner, which I perceive by his accent - "

In fact, the unknown spoke with that impetuosity which is the principal
character of English accentuation, even among men who speak the French
language with the greatest purity.

"As monsieur is a foreigner, I say, it is perhaps he who does not catch