gave you the answer: nothing to hope for----"

"I know; but that doesn't matter. Do you remember their address?"

"Perfectly. They are now living on the Asnieres Road, beyond the
fortifications, on the right hand side."

"What is the number?"

Chupin hesitated, reflected for a moment, and then began to scratch
his head furiously, as he was in the habit of doing whenever his memory
failed him and he wished to recall it to duty. "I'm not sure whether the
number is eighteen or forty-six," he said, at last; "that is----"

"Never mind," interrupted M. Fortunat. "If I sent you to the house could
you find it?"

"Oh--yes, m'sieur--at once--with my eyes shut. I can see the place
perfectly--a rickety old barrack. There is a tract of unoccupied land on
one side, and a kitchen-garden in the rear."

"Very well; you shall accompany me there."

Chupin seemed astonished by this strange proposal. "What, m'sieur," said
he, "do you think of going there at this time of night?"

"Why not? Shall we find the establishment closed?"

"No; certainly not. Vantrasson doesn't merely keep furnished rooms; he's
a grocer, and sells liquor too. His place is open until eleven o'clock
at least. But if you are going there to present a bill, it's perhaps
a little late. If I were in your place, m'sieur, I should wait
till to-morrow. It's raining, and the streets are deserted. It's an
out-of-the-way place too; and in such cases, a man has been known to
settle his account with whatever came handiest--with a cudgel, or a
bullet, for instance."

"Are you afraid?"

This question seemed so utterly absurd to Chupin that he was not in
the least offended by it; his only answer was a disdainful shrug of the
shoulders.

"Then we will go," remarked M. Fortunat. "While I'm getting ready, go
and hire a cab, and see that you get a good horse."

Chupin was off in an instant, tearing down the staircase like a tempest.
There was a cab-stand only a few steps from the house, but he preferred
to run to the jobmaster's stables in the Rue Feydeau.

"Cab, sir!" shouted several men, as they saw him approaching.

He made no reply, but began to examine the horses with the air of a
connoisseur, until at last he found an animal that suited him. Thereupon
he beckoned to the driver, and going to the little office where a woman
sat reading: "My five sous, if you please," he said, authoritatively.

The woman looked at him. Most jobmasters are in the habit of giving five