he went on eating his bread and cheese, leaning his shoulder against
the window jamb; for he rested standing like a cab-horse, one of his
legs raised and propped against the other, on the toe of his shoe.

"What trick can we play that cove?" said the third clerk, whose name was
Godeschal, in a low voice, pausing in the middle of a discourse he
was extemporizing in an appeal engrossed by the fourth clerk, of which
copies were being made by two neophytes from the provinces.

Then he went on improvising:

"_But, in his noble and beneficent wisdom, his Majesty, Louis the
Eighteenth_--(write it at full length, heh! Desroches the learned--you,
as you engross it!)--_when he resumed the reins of Government,
understood_--(what did that old nincompoop ever understand?)--_the high
mission to which he had been called by Divine Providence!_--(a note of
admiration and six stops. They are pious enough at the Courts to let us
put six)--_and his first thought, as is proved by the date of the order
hereinafter designated, was to repair the misfortunes caused by the
terrible and sad disasters of the revolutionary times, by restoring to
his numerous and faithful adherents_--('numerous' is flattering, and
ought to please the Bench)--_all their unsold estates, whether within
our realm, or in conquered or acquired territory, or in the endowments
of public institutions, for we are, and proclaim ourselves competent to
declare, that this is the spirit and meaning of the famous, truly loyal
order given in_--Stop," said Godeschal to the three copying clerks,
"that rascally sentence brings me to the end of my page.--Well," he went
on, wetting the back fold of the sheet with his tongue, so as to be able
to fold back the page of thick stamped paper, "well, if you want to play
him a trick, tell him that the master can only see his clients between
two and three in the morning; we shall see if he comes, the old
ruffian!"

And Godeschal took up the sentence he was dictating--"_given in_--Are
you ready?"

"Yes," cried the three writers.

It all went all together, the appeal, the gossip, and the conspiracy.

"_Given in_--Here, Daddy Boucard, what is the date of the order? We
must dot our _i_'s and cross our _t_'s, by Jingo! it helps to fill the
pages."

"By Jingo!" repeated one of the copying clerks before Boucard, the head
clerk, could reply.

"What! have you written _by Jingo_?" cried Godeschal, looking at one of
the novices, with an expressio