He entered the
hall, accompanied by a man of about thirty years of age, whose brown and
sunburnt face seemed less degraded than those of the other prisoners,
although he affected to appear as resolute as his companion; sometimes his
face became clouded, and he smiled bitterly. The Cripple found himself, to
use a vulgar expression, quite at home. He could hardly reply to the
felicitations and welcomes which were addressed to him from all sides.
"Here you are at last, my jolly bloke! So much the better; we shall have a
laugh."
"We wanted you, old son!"
"You have stayed away a long time."
"Yet I have done all I could to return to my friends. It is not my fault if
they would not have me sooner."
"Just so, my crummy mate; no one will come of his own accord to be caged;
but once there, one must enjoy himself."
"You are in luck, for Pique-Vinaigre is here."
"He also? an old Melun chum! famous, famous, he will help us pass the time
with his stories, and customers will not be wanting, for I announce some
recruits."
"Who then?"
"Just now, at the office, while they were enrolling me, they brought in two
young coves. One I do not know; but the other, who wore a blue cotton cap
and a gray blouse, struck my eye. I have seen the fellow somewhere. I think
it was in the White Rabbit: a very fine-looking prig."
"Say now, Big Cripple, do you recollect at Melun, I bet you, before a year
you would be nabbed?"
"That is true; you have won; but I had more chances to be a second comer
than to be medaled; but what have you done?"
"On the American lay.
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