"No; we'll hold him down by main force." "Yes!" "No!" "Silence in the stone jug!" said the Skeleton. There was complete silence. "Listen to me!" said the _prevot_, in his hoarse voice. "There is no means of doing the thing so long as the turnkey remains in the day-room or the walking-yard. I have no knife, and there must be a few groans, for the sneak will struggle." "Well, what then?" "Why, this. Pique-Vinaigre has promised to tell us to-day after dinner his story of 'Gringalet and Cut-in-Half.' It rains, and we shall all come here, and the sneak will come and sit down there in the corner, as he always does. We'll give Pique-Vinaigre some sous that he may begin his tale. It will be dinner-time in the gaol; the turnkey will see us quietly employed in listening to the miraculous mystery of 'Gringalet and Cut-in-Half,' and will, suspecting no harm, make off to the tap. As soon as he has left the yard we shall have a quarter of an hour to ourselves, and the nose will be cold meat before the turnkey can return. I will undertake it,--I who have done for stouter fellows in my day; and mind, I'll have no assistance!" "Mind your eye!" cried Cardillac; "and what about the _huissier_ who will always come for a gossip amongst us at dinner-time? If he comes into the room to listen to Pique-Vinaigre, and sees Germain done for, he will cry out for help. He's not one of us, the _huissier_,--he's in a private cell, and we should mistrust him." "Is there a _huissier_ here?" said Frank, the victim as we know of a breach of trust, by Maitre Boulard. "Is there a _huissier_ here?" he repeated, with astonishment, "and what is his name?" "Boulard," replied Cardillac. "The very man! The identical villain!" cried Frank, clenching his fists. "It is he who has stolen my savings!" "The _huissier_?" inquired the _prevot_. "Yes, seven hundred francs of mine." "You know him? And has he seen you?" inquired the Skeleton. "I have seen him, worse luck! But for him I should not be here." These regrets sounded ill in the Skeleton's ears, and he fixed his malignant eyes steadfastly on Frank, who replied to several of his comrade's questions. Then stooping towards the Gros-Boiteux, he said, in a low voice: "This is a fresh 'un who might tell the turnkey." "No, I'll answer for his not informing against any one; yet still he has his scruples about going the whole hog, and he might aid Germain in defending himself. It would be best to get him out of the yard." "I'll do it," said the Skeleton; and then aloud he said, "I say, Frank, won't you pitch into this thief of a lawyer?" "Won't I, that's all!" "Well, he's coming, and so look out." "I'm ready, and he shall bear my marks!" "We shall have a row, and they will send the _huissier_ to his room and Frank to the black-hole," said the Skeleton, in an undertone, to the Gros-Boiteux; "we shall thus get rid of both."