rret. The sight of these provisions recalled to his mind
that he had now something better to do than to abandon himself to
contemplation, and that he had given Captain Roquefinette a rendezvous
on the most important business. Consequently he looked at his watch, and
saw that it was ten o'clock. This was, as the reader will remember, the
appointed hour. He sent away the man who had brought the provisions, and
said he would lay the cloth himself; then, opening his window once more,
he sat down to watch for the appearance of Captain Roquefinette.

He was hardly at his observatory before he perceived the worthy captain
coming round the corner from the Rue Gros-Chenet, his head in the air,
his hand on his hip, and with the martial and decided air of a man who,
like the Greek philosopher, carries everything with him. His hat, that
thermometer by which his friends could tell the secret state of its
master's finances, and which, on his fortunate days was placed as
straight on his head as a pyramid on its base, had recovered that
miraculous inclination which had so struck the Baron de Valef, and
thanks to which, one of the points almost touched his right shoulder,
while the parallel one might forty years later had given Franklin, if
Franklin had known the captain, the first idea of his electric kite.

Having come about a third down the street, he raised his head as had
been arranged, and saw the chevalier just above him. He who waited, and
he who was waited for, exchanged nods, and the captain having calculated
the distance at a glance, and recognized the door which ought to belong
to the window above, jumped over the threshold of Madame Denis's poor
little house with as much familiarity as if it had been a tavern. The
chevalier shut the window, and drew the curtains with the greatest
care--either in order that his pretty neighbor might not see him with
the captain, or that the captain might not see her.

An instant afterward D'Harmental heard the sound of his steps, and the
beating of his sword against the banisters. Having arrived at the third
story, as the light which came from below was not aided by any light
from above, he found himself in a difficulty, not knowing whether to
stop where he was, or mount higher. Then, after coughing in the most
significant manner, and finding that this call remained unnoticed--

"Morbleu!" said he. "Chevalier, as you did not probably bring me here to
break my neck, open your door or call o