Alfred; or, The Adventures of a French Gentleman — page 71: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

56 OF A FRENCH GENTLEMAN, * No! idle fool. Undress yourself, or I will call the Gendarmes to tear your garments shred by shred from your vile body.” ‘¢ Spit me before the fire—grill me on a gridiron—truss me like a capon—but spare my life, at least till I have made known to the world my cotelettes ala quadrille !”’ ‘«¢ Sacre mille tonnerres!”’ roared the irritated old man: “ the villain wishes me to dance a quadrille at my time of life ; but, by the eternal God ! I will make him caper to a pretty tune, if he do not instantly submit his unholy carcase to the investigation !” ‘‘T am at your mercy,” said Champignon, resignedly. ‘‘ Speak --what would you have me do?” ‘Take off your clothes as quickly as possible.” The gastronomer obeyed with a piteous face, and Plombier soon terminated his scrutiny : he accordingly motioned Champig- non to resume his apparel ; but the sign was misunderstood, and the ex-restaurateur of the Cadran Rouge, bewildered and con- fused, and almost unconscious of what he was doing, opened the door of the cabinet, and appeared amongst the Gendarmes, and the rest of the convicts who waited to pass their examination, in his shirt. The step was rather higher than he fancied it to be ; and in descending it too hastily, his foot slipped, and down he fell. An immense dog, that hitherto lay reposing in his kennel at the farther end of the yard, was aroused and alarmed at the sudden apparition of a being in so unseemly a guise; and rushing from his den, he flew upon the unfortunate gastronomer’s back in the twinkling of an eye; but before he could do any essential mischief, a Gendarme promptly interfered, and succeeded in with- drawing the animal, while the discomfited Champignon arose amidst shouts of laughter, declaring “it was the first time in his life he had ever been taken for a coteletie en papillote.” On the following morning the prison garb was distributed to each of the convicts who had entered the day before ; and their names were worked in full length upon their caps, with a supernu- merary distinction emphatically expressed by the letters G A L* Thus the ceremony of examination by the old man on the arrival of the chain was not useless, as it might have at first appeared to the reader, whose wonder was very naturally excited at the appa- rent folly of causing so much trouble, instead of dealing out a change of habiliments at once; whereas the clothes were neces- sarily kept back for a night, in order to be distinguished by the nomenclatures of those who were destined to wear them. Belle- Rose and De Rosann retained their passports untouched, as Plombier had assured them would be the case ; and their delight at this circumstance was only equalled by their curiosity to become acquainted with the nature, the source, and the extent of a power which displayed itself in so remarkable a manner, and yet remained concealed from every eye. It was evident that the agents knew no more of the motives of their employment, than the King’s mes- senger is aware of the contents of the dispatches which he bears from his sovereign’s court to a foreign monarch. Those agents ps PES Ea Pn a a * Galerien, gatley-slave. ECORNNIClOOOKS (E()