' my 'ouse been tellin' me, long time, '_Le_ Boss goin' bounce
Fidele.' Me, I laugh w'en they say so. I say, '_Le Boss? C'est un
creature d'imagination, pour nous effrayer,' you know, make us scart
'_C'est un loup-garou,' you know,--w'at make 'fraid li'l chil'ren.
That's w'at I tell them. I thing then you would n't been makin' fool of
me.'

"They don't know what they are talking about," I said. "How can they
know why Fidele is removed?"

"_Mais_, you jus' wait; I goin' tell you. I fin they do know. Fidele
take he sol'ier-papers, an' he go see _le chef_" (here Sorel rose, and
acted Fidele). "Fidele, 'e show 'is papers to _le chef_; 'e say, 'Now
you boun' tell me why _le bon gouvernement_, w'at 's been my frien',
bounce me now.' 'E say _le chef_ boun' to tell 'im,--_il faut
absolument!_ 'E say 'e won' go, way if _le chef_ don' tell 'im; an' you
know, no man can't scare our Fidele!"

"Very well," I said; "what did the collector, the _chef_ tell him?
Fidele is too lame, I suppose?"

"_Mais, non_," with a suspicious smile. "_Le chef_, he mos' cry,--yas,
sar,--an' 'e say 'e ain' got no trouble 'gainst Fidele; _la republique_,
she ain' got no trouble 'gainst Fidele. 'E say 'e di'n want Fidele to
go; _le gouvernement_, she d'n want 'im to go. _Mais_, 'e say, 'e can't
help hisself; _le gouvernement_, she can't help herself. Yas, sar. Then
Fidele know w'at evarybody been tellin' us was true,--'e 'Boss,' 'e make
'im go!" And Sorel sat back in his chair.

"Now, I ax you one time more," he resumed: "_qu'est-ce que c'est qu'un
'Boss'?_"

What could I say! How could I explain, offhand, to this stranger, the
big boss, the little boss, the State boss, the ward boss, the county
boss, all burrowing underneath our theoretical government! How could
I explain to him that Fidele's department in the custom-house had been
allotted to a Congressman about to run for a second term, who needed it
to control a few more ward-meetings,--needed, in the third ward caucus,
those very French votes which Carron had been shrewd enough to steal
away and organize! What could I say to Sorel which he, innocent as he
was, would not misconstrue as inconsistent with our past glorifications
of our republic! What did I say! I do not know. I only remember that he
interrupted me, harshly and abruptly, as he rose to go.

"You an' me got great _pitie_, ain' we," he said, "for _notre France, la
pauvre France_, 'cause she got so many folks w'at _tourbillonnent sou