he singular impression which the unknown had
caused her. Weighed down and abashed at his presence, she almost
regretted having made so candid a narrative to him of her unhappy life.
The Chourineur, on the contrary, was quite in high spirits; he had
devoured the whole harlequin without the least assistance; the wine and
brandy had made him very communicative; the fact of his having found his
master, as he called him, had been forgotten in the generous conduct of
Rodolph; and he also detected so decided a physical superiority, that
his humiliation had given way to a sentiment of admiration, mingled with
fear and respect. This absence of rancour, and the savage pride with
which he boasted of never having robbed, proved that the Chourineur was
not as yet thoroughly hardened. This had not escaped the sagacity of
Rodolph, and he awaited the man's recital with curiosity.

"Now, my boy," said he, "we are listening."

The Chourineur emptied his glass, and thus began:

"You, my poor girl, were at last taken to by the Chouette, whom the
devil confound! You never had a shelter until the moment when you were
imprisoned as a vagabond. I can never recollect having slept in what is
called a bed before I was nineteen years of age,--a happy age!--and then
I became a trooper."

"What, you have served, then, Chourineur?" said Rodolph.

"Three years; but you will hear all about it: the stones of the Louvre,
the lime-kilns of Clichy, and the quarries of Montrouge, these were the
hotels of my youth. Then I had my house in Paris and in the country. Who
but I--"

"And what was your trade?"

"Faith, master, I have a foggy recollection of having strolled about in
my childhood with an old rag-picker, who almost thumped me to death; and
it must be true, for I have never since met one of these old Cupids,
with a wicker-work quiver, without a longing to pitch into him,--a proof
that one of them must have thumped me when I was a child. My first
employment was to help the knackers to cut the horses' throats at
Montfaucon. I was about ten or twelve. When I began to slash
(_chouriner_) these poor old beasts, it had quite an impression on me.
At the month's end I thought no more about it; on the contrary, I began
to like my trade. No one had his knife so sharpened and keen-edged as
mine; and that made me rejoice in using it. When I had cut the animals'
throats, they gave me for my trouble a piece of the thigh of some animal
that had died of diseas