ity even harder for
me to explain. With many lamentations over my mud-stained and sodden
condition, he drew a box close to the blaze and cut me off a corner of
the bread and ham. I could not help observing, however, that though his
loose under-lipped mouth was wreathed with smiles, his beautiful dark
eyes were continually running over me and my attire, asking and
re-asking what my business might be.

'As for myself,' said he, with an air of false candour, 'you will very
well understand that in these days a worthy merchant must do the best he
can to get his wares, and if the Emperor, God save him, sees fit in his
wisdom to put an end to open trade, one must come to such places as
these to get into touch with those who bring across the coffee and the
tobacco. I promise you that in the Tuileries itself there is no
difficulty about getting either one or the other, and the Emperor drinks
his ten cups a day of the real Mocha without asking questions, though he
must know that it is not grown within the confines of France. The
vegetable kingdom still remains one of the few which Napoleon has not
yet conquered, and, if it were not for traders, who are at some risk and
inconvenience, it is hard to say what we should do for our supplies.
I suppose, sir, that you are not yourself either in the seafaring or in
the trading line?'

I contented myself by answering that I was not, by which reticence I
could see that I only excited his curiosity the more. As to his account
of himself, I read a lie in those tell-tale eyes all the time that he
was talking. As I looked at him now in the full light of the lamp and
the fire, I could see that he was even more good-looking than I had at
first thought, but with a type of beauty which has never been to my
taste. His features were so refined as to be almost effeminate, and so
regular that they would have been perfect if it had not been for that
ill-fitting, slabbing mouth. It was a clever, and yet it was a weak
face, full of a sort of fickle enthusiasm and feeble impulsiveness.
I felt that the more I knew him the less reason I should probably find
either to like him or to fear him, and in my first conclusion I was
right, although I had occasion to change my views upon the second.

'You will forgive me, Monsieur Laval, if I was a little cold at first,'
said he. 'Since the Emperor has been upon the coast the place swarms
with police agents, so that a trader must look to his own interests.