As to his remarks, they, as we have stated, were infrequent, so
laconic, in reality, that they were mere exclamations rather than
speech. But each time an explanation had been asked concerning the
state of France, the Englishman openly drew out a note-book and
requested those about him, the wine merchant, the abbe, or the
young noble to repeat their remarks; to which each had complied
with an amiability equal to the courteous tone of the request. He
had noted down the most important, extraordinary and, picturesque
features of the robbery of the diligence, the state of Vendee, and
the details about the Companions of Jehu, thanking each informant
by voice and gesture with the stiffness peculiar to our insular
cousins, replacing his note-book enriched each time by a new
item in a side pocket of his overcoat.

Finally, like a spectator enjoying an unexpected scene, he had
given a cry of satisfaction at sight of the masked man, had listened
with all his ears, gazed with all his eyes, not losing him from
sight until the door closed behind him. Then drawing his note-book
hastily from his pocket--

"Ah, sir," he said to his neighbor, who was no other than the
abbe, "will you be so kind, should my memory fail me, as to repeat
what that gentleman who has just gone out said?"

He began to write immediately, and the abbe's memory agreeing
with his, he had the satisfaction of transcribing literally and
verbatim the speech made by the Companion of Jehu to citizen
Jean Picot. Then, this conversation written down, he exclaimed
with an accent that lent a singular stamp of originality to his