"Well, if any one had told me that Francois Germain was a thief," said one of the young men, "I should have said, 'That's a lie!'" "So should I." "And I." "And I. It really quite affected me to see him arrested and led away by the police. I could not eat any breakfast; but I have been rewarded by not having to eat the daily mess doled out by Mother Seraphin, for, as the song goes: 'To eat the allowance of old Seraphin, One must have a twist indeed.'" "Capital! why, Chalamel, you are beginning your poetry already." "I demand Chalamel's head!" "Folly apart, it is very terrible for poor Germain." "Seventeen thousand francs (680_l._) is a lump of money!" "I believe you!" "And yet, for the fifteen months that Germain has been cashier, he was never a farthing deficient in making up his books." "I think the governor was wrong to arrest Germain, for the poor fellow swore that he had only taken thirteen hundred francs (52_l._) in gold, and that, moreover, he brought back the thirteen hundred francs this morning, to return them to the money-chest, at the very moment when our master sent for the police." "Ah, that's the bore of people of such ferocious honesty as our governor, they have no pity!" "But they ought to think twice before they ruin a poor young fellow, who, up to this time, has behaved with strict honesty." "M. Ferrand said he did it for an example." "Example? What? It is none to the honest, and the dishonest know well enough what they expose themselves to if they are found out in any delinquencies." "Our house seems to produce lots of jobs for the police officers." "What do you mean?" "Why, this morning there was poor little Louise, and now poor Germain." "I confess that Germain's affair was not quite clear to me." "But he confessed?" "He confessed that he had taken thirteen hundred francs, certainly; but he declared most vehemently that he had not taken the other fifteen thousand francs in bank-notes, and the other seven hundred francs which are short in the strong box." "True; and, if he confessed one thing, why shouldn't he confess another?" "Exactly so; for a man is as much punished for five hundred francs as he is for fifteen thousand francs." "Yes; only they retain the fifteen thousand francs, and, when they leave prison, this forms a little fund to start upon; and, as the swan of Cambrai sings: 'To get a jolly lot of "swag" A cove must dip deep in the lucky-bag.'" "I demand Chalamel's head!" "Can't you talk sense for five minutes?" "Ah, here's Jabulot! won't he be astonished?" "What at, my boys? what at? Anything fresh about poor Louise?" "You would have known, roving blade, if you had not been so long in your rounds." "What, you think it is but a step from here to the Rue de Chaillot?" "I never said so." "Well, what about that gallant don, the famous Viscount de Saint-Remy?" "Has he not been here yet?" "No."