"Ah! I understand at last."

"That's very fortunate."

"Companions of Jehu then are the intermediaries between the Republic
and the Counter-Revolution, the tax-collectors of the royalist
generals?"

"Yes. It is not robbery, but a military operation, rather a feat
of arms like any other. So there you are, citizen, and now you
are as well informed on this point as ourselves."

"But," timidly hazarded the wine merchant of Bordeaux, "if the
Companions of Jehu--observe that I say nothing against them--want
the government money--"

"The government money, no other. Individual plunder on their part
is unheard of."

"How does it happen, then, that yesterday, in addition to the
government money, they carried off two hundred louis of mine?"

"My dear sir," replied the young man of the table d'hote, "I
have already told you that there is some mistake. As surely as
my name is Alfred de Barjols, this money will be returned to
you some day."

The wine merchant heaved a sigh and shook his head, as if, in
spite of that assurance, he still retained some doubts. But at
this moment, as if the promise given by the young noble, who