Then she went on asking questions, and seeking for terrifying and
mysterious countenances. At last, two men seated in a corner ended by
attracting her attention; one of them a very young fellow with a pale,
pinched face, and the other an ageless individual who, besides being
buttoned up to his neck in an old coat, had pulled his cap so low over
his eyes, that one saw little of his face beyond the beard which fringed
it. Before these two stood a couple of mugs of beer, which they drank
slowly and in silence.

"You are making a great mistake, my dear," said Hyacinthe with a frank
laugh, "if you are looking for brigands in disguise. That poor fellow
with the pale face, who surely doesn't have food to eat every day, was my
schoolfellow at Condorcet!"

Bergaz expressed his amazement. "What! you knew Mathis at Condorcet!
After all, though, you're right, he received a college education. Ah! and
so you knew him. A very remarkable young man he is, though want is
throttling him. But, I say, the other one, his companion, you don't know
him?"

Hyacinthe, after looking at the man with the cap-hidden face, was already
shaking his head, when Bergaz suddenly gave him a nudge as a signal to
keep quiet, and by way of explanation he muttered: "Hush! Here's
Raphanel. I've been distrusting him for some time past. Whenever he
appears anywhere, the police is not far off."

Raphanel was another of the vague, mysterious Anarchists whom Janzen had
presented to the Princess by way of satisfying her momentary passion for
revolutionism. This one, though he was a fat, gay, little man, with a
doll-like face and childish nose, which almost disappeared between his