growled, "and the guv'nor expects me at
eight precisely. I shall have to stretch out my legs."

II.

M. Isidore Fortunat resided at No. 27 Place de la Bourse, on the
third floor. He had a handsome suite of apartments: a drawing-room, a
dining-room, a bed-room, a large outer office where his clerks
worked, and a private one, which was the sanctuary of his thoughts and
meditations. The whole cost him only six thousand francs a year, a mere
trifle as rents go nowadays. His lease entitled him, moreover, to the
use of a room ten feet square, up under the eaves, where he lodged his
servant, Madame Dodelin, a woman of forty-six or thereabouts, who had
met with reverses of fortune, and who now took such good charge of his
establishment, that his table--for he ate at home--was truly fit for a
sybarite.

Having been established here for five years or more, M. Fortunat was
very well known in the neighborhood, and, as he paid his rent promptly,
and met all his obligations without demur, he was generally respected.
Besides, people knew very well from what source M. Fortunat derived his
income. He gave his attention to contested claims, liquidations, the
recovery of legacies, and so on, as was shown by the inscription in
large letters which figured on the elegant brass plate adorning his
door. He must have had a prosperous business, for he employed six
collectors in addition to the clerks who wrote all day long in his
office; and his clients were so numerous that the concierge was often
heard to complain of the way they ran up and down the stairs, declaring
that it was worse than a procession.

To be just, we must add that M. Fortunat's appearance, manners
and conduct were of a nature to quiet all suspicions. He was some
thirty-eight years of age, extremely methodical in his habits, gentle
and refined in his manner, intelligent, very good-looking, and always
dressed in perfect taste. He was accused of being, in business matters,
as cold, as polished, and as hard as one of the marble slabs of the
Morgue; but then, no one was obliged to employ him unless they chose
to do so. This much is certain: he did not frequent cafes or places of
amusement. If he went out at all after dinner, it was only to pass
the evening at the house of some rich client in the neighborhood. He
detested the smell of tobacco, and was inclined to be devout--never
failing to attend eight o'clock mass on Sunday mornings. His housekeeper
suspected him of