Page:Ten Years Later.djvu/179

Rh man, but the restless hand betrayed the man absorbed in thought — Aramis was meditating. "I was saying," continued Baisemeaux, "that a tolerably sized fowl costs me a franc and a half, and that a good-sized fish costs me four or five francs. Three meals are served at the Bastile, and, as the prisoners have nothing to do, are always eating, a ten-franc man cost me seven francs and a half."

"But did you not say that you treated those at ten francs like those at fifteen?"

"Yes, certainly."

"Very well! Then you gain seven francs and a half upon those who pay you fifteen francs."

"I must compensate myself somehow," said Baisemeaux, who saw how he had been caught.

"You are quite right, my dear governor; but have you no prisoners below ten francs?"

"Oh, yes! we have citizens and barristers at five francs."

"And do they eat, too?"

"Not a doubt about it; only you understand that they do not get fish or poultry, nor rich wines at every meal; but at all events thrice a week they have a good dish at their dinner."

"Eeally, you are quite a philanthropist, my dear governor, and you will ruin yourself."

"No; understand me; when the fifteen francs has not eaten his fowl, or the ten francs has left his dish unfinished, I send it to the five-franc j^risoners; it is a feast for the poor devil, and one must be charitable, you know."

"And what do you make out of your five-franc prisoners?"

"A franc and a half."

"Baisemeaux, you're an honest fellow; in honest truth I say so."

"Thank you, my lord. But I feel most for the small tradesmen and bailiffs' clerks, who are rated at three francs. They do not often see Rhine carp or Channel sturgeon."

"But do not the five-franc gentlemen sometimes leave some scraps?"

"Oh! my lord, do not believe I am so stingy as that; I delight the heart of some poor little tradesman or clerk by sending him a wing of a red partridge, a slice of venison, or a slice of truffled pastry, dishes which he never tasted except in his dreams; these are the leavings of the twenty-four-franc prisoners; and he eats and drinks, at dessert he cries 'Long live the king!' and blesses the Bastile; with a couple of bottles of champagne, which cost me five sous, I