mpromise you."

"Yes, and a fine opportunity you have chosen!" exclaimed Andrea; "you
speak to me before my servant."

"How can I help that, my boy? I speak to you when I can catch you. You
have a quick horse, a light tilbury, you are naturally as slippery as an
eel; if I had missed you to-night, I might not have had another chance."

"You see, I do not conceal myself."

"You are lucky; I wish I could say as much, for I do conceal myself;
and then I was afraid you would not recognize me, but you did," added
Caderousse with his unpleasant smile. "It was very polite of you."

"Come," said Andrea, "what do you want?"

"You do not speak affectionately to me, Benedetto, my old friend, that
is not right--take care, or I may become troublesome." This menace
smothered the young man's passion. He urged the horse again into a trot.
"You should not speak so to an old friend like me, Caderousse, as you
said just now; you are a native of Marseilles, I am"--

"Do you know then now what you are?"

"No, but I was brought up in Corsica; you are old and obstinate, I
am young and wilful. Between people like us threats are out of place,
everything should be amicably arranged. Is it my fault if fortune, which
has frowned on you, has been kind to me?"

"Fortune has been kind to you, then? Your tilbury, your groom, your
clothes, are not then hired? Good, so much the better," said Caderousse,
his eyes sparkling with avarice.

"Oh, you knew that well enough before speaking to me," said Andrea,
becoming more and more excited. "If I had been wearing a handkerchief
like yours on my head, rags on my back, and worn-out shoes on my feet,
you would not have known me."

"You wrong me, my boy; now I have found you, nothing prevents my being
as well-dressed as any one, knowing, as I do, the goodness of your
heart. If you have two coats you will give me one of them. I used to
divide my soup and beans with you when you were hungry."

"True," said Andrea.

"What an appetite you used to have! Is it as good now?"

"Oh, yes," replied Andrea, laughing.

"How did you come to be dining with that prince whose house you have
just left?"

"He is not a prince; simply a count."

"A count, and a rich one too, eh?"

"Yes; but you had better not have anything to say to him, for he is not
a very good-tempered gentleman."

"Oh, be easy! I have no design upon your count, and you shall have
him all to yourself. But," said Caderousse, again smiling wit