At the name charlatan, my companion leaped in the saddle in such a way that he nearly threw us both off; luckily I clung firmly to him, and we got off with merely a fright. “My dear boy,” he said when he had become a little calmer, “I forgive you the name of charlatan. You don’t know me yet; indeed I admit that there is a little charlatanism in my business, and that three-quarters of my remedies and my philters do not produce the effect that is expected of them; but we make mistakes in medicine as we do in everything else. We take cathartics and make ourselves sick; we have a toothache, and we take an elixir which spoils all our teeth; we try to obtain a position which we are not able to fill; we go into maritime speculations which a sudden storm destroys; we think that we have intelligence when we have not the intelligence to succeed, which is the most important of all; we determine to be prudent and we make fools of ourselves; we desire happiness, and we marry and have a wife and children who often cause us untold anxiety!--In short, my little man, people have made mistakes in all lines, and it is great luck when things turn out as we had anticipated, or hoped.” “Look here, monsieur,” I said to my little hunchback, whose chatter was beginning to weary me, “what do you expect to do with me, after all is said and done?” “This: when I stop in a village or small town, I cannot make myself sufficiently well known alone; I need an assistant, to go about the town to deliver prospectuses, and to answer for me when I am busy, and make a memorandum of the questions that people want to ask me.” “But I don’t choose to be your assistant, as I don’t want to learn anything.” “I understand that very well, my friend. Oh! I don’t propose to drive you crazy with fatiguing work. I will have you make pills, that’s all.” “Pills?” “Yes, pills of all sizes and of all colors. Never fear, it won’t be hard; but that isn’t all.” “What else shall I do?” “You must be able to sleep when you choose, and to play the sleep-walker when you please.” “Oh! as to sleeping, I can do that all right!” “When you are asleep, you must answer the questions that are asked you.” “How do you expect me to answer questions when I am asleep?” “Why, you will pretend to be asleep, my boy; I will explain all that to you. Oh! that is one of the principal branches of my business.” “When you put people to sleep?” “No, but when I make sleep-walkers talk, and when I make them give remedies to sick people.” “One moment; I am willing to sleep, but I am not willing to give remedies or take them.--Indeed, I have been whipped at home for refusing.” “Oh! you don’t understand; when I say remedies, I mean medicines to take----” “Yes, with a syringe; I know all about that!” “I tell you that you don’t know what I am talking about. You will talk while pretending to be asleep; I will teach you your lesson beforehand, and you will answer the questions asked by invalids or curiosity seekers.”