Page:Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume 2.djvu/147

 to be a young man named Fossé, whose father, a brass-worker, was lying in an adjacent room, and a dialogue thus began:—

SCENE THE FIRST.

FATHER, MOTHER, AND SON.

Son. "What do you think, father? They are looking for the tailor—they want to seize him—all the house is in an uproar—Do you hear the bell? Hark! hark! they are ringing at the watchmaker's."

Mother. "Let them ring—do not you meddle in business that does not concern you;—(to her husband) Come, father, dress; they will soon be here."

Father. (Yawning, and as I imagined, rubbing his eyes) "The devil fetch them—what do they want with the tailor?"

Son. "I do not know, father; but there are lots of them—bailiffs and gendarmes, and a commissary with them."

Father. "Perhaps it is nothing at all."

Mother. "But what can they want with the tailor? What can he have done?"

Father. "What can he have done? Since he sells cloth, he may have made clothes of English goods."

Mother. "He may have employed foreign goods! You make me laugh at you. Do you think he would be apprehended for that?"

Father. "Yes, I think they would apprehend him for that, and the continental blockade."

Son. "Continental blockade! What do you mean by that, father? What has that to do with the matter?"

Mother. "Oh yes! Tell us, then, what will be the end of this; and let us know the truth of it all."

Father. "The meaning of all this;—that perhaps they will make the tailor a head shorter."

Mother. "Good God! poor man! I am sure they