"Yes; I came just in time to get the only empty room,--the others are being repaired. I have made myself as comfortable as possible in my cell, and am not so very miserable. I have a stove and a very nice easy chair; I make three long meals a day, and my digestion is good; then I walk and go to sleep. Except my uneasiness about Alexandrine I have not so much to complain of." "But for you who were such an epicure, general, the prison diet is very poor." "Why, there is an excellent cookshop in my street, and I have a running account with him, and so every two days he sends me a very nice supply. And, by the way, I would get you to ask his wife--a nice little woman is Madame Michonneau--to put into the basket a bit of pickled thunny. It is in season now, and relishes one's wine." "Capital idea!" "And tell Madame Michonneau to send me a basket of various wines,--burgundy, champagne, and bordeaux,--like the last; she'll know what I mean. And tell her to put in two bottles of old cognac of 1817, and a pound of pure Mocha, fresh roasted and ground." "I'll put down the date of the cognac, lest I should forget it," said Bourdin, taking a memorandum-book from his pocket. "As you are writing, my good fellow, be so good as make a minute of my wish to have an eider-down quilt from my house." "All shall be done to the letter, general; make your mind easy. And now I shall be comfortable about your living. But your walks; you are compelled to take them along with those ruffians confined here?" "Yes; and it's really very lively and animated. I go down after breakfast; sometimes I go into one yard, sometimes another, and I mix with the mob. Really they appear very good sort of fellows! Some of them are very amusing. The most ferocious are collected in what is called the Fosse aux Lions. Ah, my good fellow, what hang-dog-looking fellows there are amongst them. There's one they call the Skeleton,--I never saw such a creature." "What a singular name!" "He is so thin, or rather bare of flesh, that this is the nickname which has been given to him; he is really frightful. He is, besides, director of his ward, and, moreover, an infernal villain. He has just left the galleys, and went directly to murder and assassination. But his last murder was really horrible, as he knew he should be condemned to death without chance of remission; but he laughs at it." "What a scoundrel!" "All the prisoners admire and tremble before him. I got into his good graces at once by offering him some cigars, and so he made a friend of me at once, and offered to teach me slang; and I have made considerable progress." "Oh, what an idea!--my general learning slang!" "I amuse myself as much as I can, and all these fellows adore me. I am not proud like a young fellow they call Germain, who gives himself the airs of a lord." "But he must be delighted at meeting with such a gentleman as you, even if he is disgusted with the others."