id La Jonquiere. "Oh, oh! that is good
to know. Does not M. de Launay scold?"

"He does not know it; besides, I am not singular--everybody makes a hole
in something; one his floor, the other his chimney, the next his wall.
Do you not make holes in something?"

La Jonquiere looked to see if Gaston were not laughing at him.

"But now, monsieur," said La Jonquiere, "let us speak seriously. Are you
condemned to death?"

"I?"

"Yes, you."

"You say that coolly."

"It is a habit in the Bastille. There are twenty here condemned to
death, and not a bit the worse for it."

"I have been interrogated."

"Ah! you see."

"But I do not believe I am condemned."

"That will come."

"My dear captain, do you know that, although you do not look so, you are
marvelously merry?"

"You think so?"

"Yes."

"Does it astonish you?"

"I did not know you were so brave."

"Then you would regret life?"

"I confess it; I only want one thing to make me happy, and that is to
live."

"And you became a conspirator with a chance of happiness before you? I
do not understand you; I thought people conspired from despair, as they
marry when they have no other resource."

"When I joined the conspiracy I did not love."

"And afterward?"

"I would not draw back."

"Bravo! that is what I call character. Have you been tortured?"

"No; but I had a narrow escape."

"Then you will be."

"Why so?"

"Because I have been; and it would be unfair to treat us differently.
Look at the state of my clothes."

"Which did they give you?" asked Gaston, shuddering at the recollection
of what had passed between D'Argenson and himself.

"The water. They made me drink a barrel and a half; my stomach was like
a bladder; I did not think I could have held so much."

"And did you suffer much?" asked Gaston, with interest.

"Yes; but my temperament is robust--the next day I thought no more of
it. It is true that since then I have drunk a great deal of wine. If you
have to choose, select the water--it cleans. All the mixtures doctors
give us are only a means of making us swallow water. Fangon says the
best doctor he ever heard of was Doctor Sangrado; he only existed in Le
Sage's brain, or he would have done miracles."

"You know Fangon?" asked Gaston, surprised.

"By reputation; besides, I have read his works. But do you intend to
persist in saying nothing?"

"Doubtless."

"You are right. I should tell you, if you regret life so much as y