"Yes."

"And you seven men allowed yourselves to be plundered by four
brigands? I congratulate you, gentlemen."

"We knew with whom we had to deal," replied the wine merchant,
"and we took good care not to defend ourselves."

"What! with whom you had to deal?" retorted the young man. "Why,
it seems to me, with thieves and bandits."

"Not at all. They gave their names."

"They gave their names?"

"They said, 'Gentlemen, it is useless to defend yourselves; ladies,
do not be alarmed, we are not bandits, we are Companions of Jehu.'"

"Yes," said the young man of the table d'hote, "they warned you
that there might be no misunderstanding. That's their way."

"Ah, indeed!" exclaimed Roland; "and who is this Jehu who has
such polite companions? Is he their captain?"

"Sir," said a man whose dress betrayed somewhat the secularized
priest, and who seemed also to be, not only an habitual guest
at the table d'hote, but also an initiate into the mysteries of
the honorable company whose merits were then under discussion,
"if you were better versed than you seem to be in the Holy
Scriptures, you would know that this Jehu died something like