Laigle burst into a laugh. "And I am enchanted. I was on the downward road to become a lawyer, and this erasure saves me. I renounce the triumphs of the bar. I will not defend the orphan or attack the widow. I have obtained my expulsion, and I am indebted to you for it, M. Pontmercy. I intend to pay you a solemn visit of thanks. Where do you live?" "In this cab," said Marius. "A sign of opulence," Laigle remarked calmly; "I congratulate you, for you have apartments at nine thousand francs a year." At this moment Courfeyrac came out of the café Marius smiled sadly. "I have been in this lodging for two hours, and am eager to leave it; but I do not know where to go." "Come home with me," Courfeyrac said to him. "I ought to have the priority," Laigle observed; "but then I have no home." "Hold your tongue, Bossuet," Courfeyrac remarked. "Bossuet!" said Marius. "Why, you told me your name was Laigle." "Of Meaux," Laigle answered; "metaphorically, Bossuet." Courfeyrac got into the cab. "Hôtel de la Porte St Jacques, driver," he said. The same evening Marius was installed in a room in this house, next door to Courfeyrac. CHAPTER III. MARIUS IS ASTONISHED. In a few days Marius was a friend of Courfeyrac, for youth is the season of prompt weldings and rapid cicatrizations. Marius by the side of Courfeyrac breathed freely, a great novelty for him. Courfeyrac asked him no questions, and did not even think of doing so, for at that age faces tell everything at once, and words are unnecessary. There are some young men of whose countenances you may say that they gossip,--you look at them and know them. One morning, however, Courfeyrac suddenly asked him the question,-- "By the way, have you any political opinion?" "Of course!" said Marius, almost offended by the question. "What are you?" "Bonapartist democrat." "The gray color of the reassured mouse," Courfeyrac remarked. On the next day he led Marius to the Café Musain, and whispered in his ear with a smile, "I must introduce you to the Revolution," and he led him to the room of the Friends of the A. B. C. He introduced him to his companions, saying in a low voice, "A pupil," which Marius did not at all comprehend Marius had fallen into a mental wasps' nest, but though he was silent and grave, he was not the less winged and armed.