After a moment's silence, Martial said, kindly, "And I ought, in my turn, to try and console you who are so sad. My wife and I hope that when we have left Paris this will cease." "Yes," said the Chourineur, with a shudder, "if I leave Paris!" "Why, we go this evening!" "Yes,--you do; you go this evening!" "And have you changed your intention, then?" "No! Yet, Martial, you'll laugh at me; but yet I will tell you all. If anything happens to me it will prove that I am not deceived. When M. Rodolph asked if we would go to Algeria together, I told you my mind at once, and also what I had been." "Yes, you did; let us mention it no more. You underwent your punishment, and are now as good as any one. But, like myself, I can imagine you would like to go and live a long way off, instead of living here, where, however honest we may be, they might at times fling in your teeth a misdeed you have atoned for and repented, and, in mine, my parents' crimes, for which I am by no means responsible. The past is the past between us, and we shall never reproach each other." "With you and me, Martial, the past is the past; but, you see, Martial, there is something above,--I have killed a man!" "A great misfortune, assuredly; but, at the moment, you were out of your senses,--mad. And besides, you have since saved the lives of other persons, and that will count in your favour." "I'll tell you why I refer to my misdeed. I used to have a dream, in which I saw the sergeant I killed. I have not had it for a long time until last night, and that foretells some misfortune for to-day. I have a foreboding that I shall not quit Paris." "Oh, you regret at leaving our benefactor! The thought of coming with me to the Bicetre agitated you; and so your dream recurred to you." The Chourineur shook his head sorrowfully and said, "It has come to me just as M. Rodolph is going to start,--for he goes to-day. Yesterday I sent a messenger to his hotel, not daring to go myself. They sent me word that he went this morning at eleven o'clock by the barrier of Charenton, and I mean to go and station myself there to try and see him once more,--for the last time!" "He seems so good that I easily understand your love for him." "Love for him!" said the Chourineur, with deep and concentrated emotion. "Yes, yes, Martial,--to lie on the earth, eat black bread, be his dog, to be where he was, I asked no more. But that was too much,--he would not consent." "He has been very generous towards you!"