hat I
shall not stand for forty or fifty pounds."

"I'll see M. Badinot, depend upon it, general; and all your commissions
shall be attended to this evening, and to-morrow you shall receive all
you wish for. So good day, and a happy meeting to us soon, _mon
general_."

"Good-bye, my worthy friend!" And the prisoner quitted the parlour at
one door, and the visitor by the other.

* * * * *

Let us now compare the crime of Pique-Vinaigre with that of M. Boulard,
the _huissier_. Compare the beginning of the two, and the reasons, the
necessities, which impelled them to evil. Compare, too, the punishment
which awaited them respectively. The one, driven by his hunger and need,
robs. He is apprehended, judged, and sentenced to fifteen or twenty
years of hard labour and exposure. Property is sacred, and he who, in
the night, breaks for plunder should undergo sacred punishment. But
ought not the well-informed, intelligent, rich man who robs--not to
satisfy hunger, but his caprices or gambling in the stocks--to be
punished? Yet for the public spoliator there is two months'
imprisonment; for the relapsed convict twenty years' hard labour and
exposure. What can we add to these facts, which speak for themselves?

* * * * *

The old turnkey kept his word; and when Boulard left the parlour,
Germain entered, and Rigolette was only separated from him by a light
wire grating.

CHAPTER VIII.

FRANCOIS GERMAIN.

Although the features of Germain could not be styled regular, it was
scarcely possible to see a more interesting countenance. There was an
air of ease and elegance about him, while his slight, graceful figure,
plain but neatly arranged dress (consisting of a pair of gray trousers
and black frock coat, buttoned up to the chin), formed a striking
contrast to the slovenliness and neglect to which the occupants of the
prison generally gave themselves up; his white hands and well-trimmed
nails evinced an attention to his personal appearance which had still
further excited the ill-will of the prisoners against him, for bodily
neglect is almost invariably the accompaniment of moral perversion. He
wore his long and naturally curling chestnut hair parted on one side of
his forehead, according to the fashion of the day, a style that well
became his pale and melancholy countenance, and large, clear blue eyes,
beaming with truth and candour; his smile, at once swe