. "One could say much in a message."

'"It might be useful," says Talleyrand. "Shall I have the message
prepared?" He wrote something in a little pocket ledger.

'"Yes--for me to embellish this evening. The MONITEUR will publish it
tonight."

'"Certainly. Sign, please," says Talleyrand, tearing the leaf out.

'"But that's the order to return the brig," says Boney. "Is that
necessary? Why should I lose a good ship? Haven't I lost enough ships
already?" 'Talleyrand didn't answer any of those questions. Then Boney
sidled up to the table and jabs his pen into the ink. Then he shies at
the paper again: "My signature alone is useless," he says. "You must
have the other two Consuls as well. Sieyes and Roger Ducos must sign. We
must preserve the Laws."

'"By the time my friend presents it," says Talleyrand, still looking out
of window, "only one signature will be necessary."

'Boney smiles. "It's a swindle," says he, but he signed and pushed the
paper across.

'"Give that to the President of the Prize Court at Le Havre," says
Talleyrand, "and he will give you back your ship. I will settle for the
cargo myself. You have told me how much it cost. What profit did you
expect to make on it?"

'Well, then, as man to man, I was bound to warn him that I'd set out
to run it into England without troubling the Revenue, and so I couldn't
rightly set bounds to my profits.'

'I guessed that all along,' said Puck.

'There was never a Lee to Warminghurst--
That wasn't a smuggler last and first.'

The children laughed.

'It's comical enough now,' said Pharaoh. 'But I didn't laugh then. Says
Talleyrand after a minute, "I am a bad accountant and I have several
calculations on hand at present. Shall we say twice the cost of the
cargo?"

'Say? I couldn't say a word. I sat choking and nodding like a China
image while he wrote an order to his secretary to pay me, I won't say
how much, because you wouldn't believe it.

'"Oh! Bless you, Abbe! God bless you!" I got it out at last.

'"Yes," he says, "I am a priest in spite of myself, but they call me
Bishop now. Take this for my episcopal blessing," and he hands me the
paper.

'"He stole all that money from me," says Boney over my shoulder. "A Bank
of France is another of the things we must make. Are you mad?" he shouts
at Talleyrand.

'"Quite," says Talleyrand, getting up. "But be calm. The disease will
never attack you. It is called gratitude. This gentleman found me in