ch she is to tell the Schoolmaster, who will undertake
it."

Fleur-de-Marie started. Rodolph smiled disdainfully.

"Two thousand francs to do something to you, Master Rodolph; that makes
me think that when I see a notice of a dog that has been lost (I don't
mean to make a comparison), and the offer of a hundred francs reward for
his discovery, I say to myself, 'Animal, if you were lost, no one would
give a hundred farthings to find you.' Two thousand francs to do
something to you! Who are you, then?"

"I'll tell you by and by."

"That's enough, master. When I heard this proposal, I said to myself, I
must find out where these two dons live who want to set the Schoolmaster
on the haunches of M. Rodolph; it may be serviceable. So when they had
gone away, I got out of my hiding-place, and followed them quietly. I
saw the tall man and little woman get into a coach near Notre Dame, and
I got up behind, and we went on until we reached the Boulevard de
l'Observatoire. It was as dark as the mouth of an oven, and I could not
distinguish anything, so I cut a notch in a tree, that I might find out
the place in the morning."

"Well thought of, my good fellow."

"This morning I went there, and about ten yards from the tree I saw a
narrow entrance, closed by a gate. In the mud there were little and
large footsteps, and at the end of the entrance a small garden-gate,
where the traces ended; so the roosting-place of the tall man and the
little woman must be there."

"Thanks, my worthy friend, you have done me a most essential piece of
service, without knowing it."

"I beg your pardon, Master Rodolph, but I believed I was serving you,
and that was the reason I did as I did."

"I know it, my fine fellow, and I wish I could recompense your service
more properly than by thanks; but, unfortunately, I am only a poor devil
of a workman, although you say they offer two thousand francs for
something to be done against me. I will explain that to you."

"Yes, if you like, but not unless. Somebody threatens you with
something, and I will come across them if I can; the rest is your
affair."

"I know what they want. Listen to me. I have a secret for cutting fans
in ivory by a mechanical process, but this secret does not belong to me
alone. I am awaiting my comrade to go to work, and, no doubt, it is the
model of the machine which I have at home that they are desirous of
getting from me at any price, for there is a great deal of money to