me!" repeated the astonished
Caderousse. "Now, then, Margotin," cried he, speaking to the dog, "will
you be quiet? Pray don't heed him, sir!--he only barks, he never bites.
I make no doubt a glass of good wine would be acceptable this dreadfully
hot day." Then perceiving for the first time the garb of the traveller
he had to entertain, Caderousse hastily exclaimed: "A thousand pardons!
I really did not observe whom I had the honor to receive under my poor
roof. What would the abbe please to have? What refreshment can I offer?
All I have is at his service."

The priest gazed on the person addressing him with a long and searching
gaze--there even seemed a disposition on his part to court a similar
scrutiny on the part of the inn-keeper; then, observing in the
countenance of the latter no other expression than extreme surprise at
his own want of attention to an inquiry so courteously worded, he deemed
it as well to terminate this dumb show, and therefore said, speaking
with a strong Italian accent, "You are, I presume, M. Caderousse?"

"Yes, sir," answered the host, even more surprised at the question
than he had been by the silence which had preceded it; "I am Gaspard
Caderousse, at your service."

"Gaspard Caderousse," rejoined the priest. "Yes,--Christian and surname
are the same. You formerly lived, I believe in the Allees de Meillan, on
the fourth floor?"

"I did."

"And you followed the business of a tailor?"

"True, I was a tailor, till the trade fell off. It is so hot at
Marseilles, that really I believe that the respectable inhabitants will
in time go without any clothing whatever. But talking of heat, is there
nothing I can offer you by way of refreshment?"

"Yes; let me have a bottle of your best wine, and then, with your
permission, we will resume our conversation from where we left off."

"As you please, sir," said Caderousse, who, anxious not to lose the
present opportunity of finding a customer for one of the few bottles of
Cahors still remaining in his possession, hastily raised a trap-door in
the floor of the apartment they were in, which served both as parlor
and kitchen. Upon issuing forth from his subterranean retreat at the
expiration of five minutes, he found the abbe seated upon a wooden
stool, leaning his elbow on a table, while Margotin, whose animosity
seemed appeased by the unusual command of the traveller for
refreshments, had crept up to him, and had established himself very
comfortab