Since you are so obliging, do not forget my
commissions."
"Do not be uneasy, my general."
"1st Alexandrine; 2d the fish, and the hamper of wine; 3d the old 1817
Cognac, the ground coffee, and the eiderdown coverlet."
"You shall have all. Anything more?"
"Yes, I forgot. Do you know where M. Badinot lives?"
"The broker? yes."
"Will you tell him that I reckon on his obliging disposition to find me a
lawyer who is prepared for my cause--that I shall not regard a cool
thousand?"
"I will see M. Badinot, be assured, general; this evening all your
commissions shall be executed, and to-morrow you will receive what you have
demanded. Adieu, and a good heart, general."
"Ta, ta!"
And the prisoner left on one side, and the visitor on the other.
Now compare the crime of Pique-Vinaigre, a robber, to the offense of
Boulard, the bailliff. Compare the point of departure from virtue of the
two, and the reasons, necessities, which have pushed them on to crime.
Compare, finally, the punishment that awaits them. Coming out of prison,
inspiring everywhere fear and indifference, the liberated convict could not
follow, in the residence appointed him, the trade he knew; he hoped to be
able to work at an occupation dangerous to his life, but suitable for his
strength; this resource failed him.
Then he breaks his terms of release, returns to Paris, contriving to
conceal his former life and find some work.
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