A man of forty, dressed in the height of fashion and as neat as a new pin, with one white lock drawn carefully down on his unwrinkled brow, came up to them smiling, raised his hat, and shook Adolphe warmly by the hand. "How are you?" said Adolphe cordially. "Let me introduce you to my friends. M. Mifroid--Madame Longuet--M. Longuet." From the glance of respectful admiration which he bestowed on her charming face Marceline gathered that the Commissary of Police was also a squire of dames. "We have often heard our friend M. Lecamus speak of you," she said with a gracious smile. "I feel that I have known you for a long time. Every time I meet him, he talks about his friends of Gerando Street, and in such terms that the good fortune which this moment befalls me, this introduction, has been my most fervent desire," said M. Mifroid gallantly. "I hear that you are an accomplished violinist," said Marceline, delighted with his politeness. "Accomplished? I don't know about accomplished: I _play_ the violin; and I am something of a sculptor and a student of philosophy--a taste which I owe to our friend M. Lecamus here. And when I passed you just now, I heard you discussing the immortality of the soul," said M. Mifroid, who wished to shine before the eyes of the pretty Marceline. "Adolphe and I love to discuss these serious questions; and just now we were discussing the body and soul and the relations between them," said Theophrastus with a very fair imitation of the professorial air of Adolphe. "Haven't you got beyond that?" said M. Mifroid, burning to shine. "In the eyes of Science matter and spirit are one and the same thing, that is to say, they constitute the same unity in the same Force, at once result and phenomenon, cause and effect, moving towards the same end: the Progressive Ascent of Being. You two gentlemen are the only people left to make this distinction between matter and spirit." Theophrastus was a trifle huffed: "We do the best we can," he said stiffly. The little party had come into the Place de la Concorde. At the top of the Rue Royale there was a large crowd of people, shouting and gesticulating. At once Theophrastus, like a true Parisian, was on fire to learn what was going on, and plunged into the heart of the crowd. "Mind you don't get your pockets picked!" cried Marceline after him. "Oh, you needn't be afraid of getting your pocket picked when you're in the company of Commissary Mifroid," said that gentleman proudly. "That's true," said Marceline with an amiable smile. "You are here; and we run no risk at all." "I don't know about that," said Adolphe slyly. "My friend Mifroid appears to me more dangerous than all the pickpockets on the face of the earth--to the heart." "Ah, he will have his joke!" said M. Mifroid laughing; but he assumed his most conquering air. Theophrastus kept them standing there for fully ten minutes before he emerged from the crowd with his eyes shining very brightly.