responsible. The past is the past
between us, and we shall never reproach each other."

"With you and me, Martial, the past is the past; but, you see, Martial,
there is something above,--I have killed a man!"

"A great misfortune, assuredly; but, at the moment, you were out of
your senses,--mad. And besides, you have since saved the lives of other
persons, and that will count in your favour."

"I'll tell you why I refer to my misdeed. I used to have a dream, in
which I saw the sergeant I killed. I have not had it for a long time
until last night, and that foretells some misfortune for to-day. I have
a foreboding that I shall not quit Paris."

"Oh, you regret at leaving our benefactor! The thought of coming with me
to the Bicetre agitated you; and so your dream recurred to you."

The Chourineur shook his head sorrowfully and said, "It has come to me
just as M. Rodolph is going to start,--for he goes to-day. Yesterday I
sent a messenger to his hotel, not daring to go myself. They sent me
word that he went this morning at eleven o'clock by the barrier of
Charenton, and I mean to go and station myself there to try and see him
once more,--for the last time!"

"He seems so good that I easily understand your love for him."

"Love for him!" said the Chourineur, with deep and concentrated emotion.
"Yes, yes, Martial,--to lie on the earth, eat black bread, be his dog,
to be where he was, I asked no more. But that was too much,--he would
not consent."

"He has been very generous towards you!"

"Yet it is not for that I love him, but because he told me I had heart
and honour. Yes, and that at a time when I was as fierce as a brute
beast. And he made me understand what was good in me, and that I had
repented, and, after suffering great misery, had worked hard for an
honest livelihood, although all the world considered me as a thorough
ruffian,--and so, when M. Rodolph said these words to me, my heart beat
high and proudly, and from this time I would go through fire and water
to serve him."

"Why, it is because you are better than you were that you ought not to
have any of those forebodings. Your dream is nothing."

"We shall see. I shall not try and get into any mischief, for I cannot
have any worse misfortune than not to see again M. Rodolph, whom I hoped
never again to leave. I should have been in my way, you see, always with
him, body and soul,--always ready. Never mind, perhaps he was wrong,--I
am only a worm at his