“Let Duplessis send him fifty louis; I formerly served as captain in his regiment, and he has since given us good information.”

“They have received at Philadelphia the last cargo of Histories of France, expurgated for the use of the faithful they require some more of the same sort.”

“Take note of it, and write to Duplessis.  Go on.”

“M.  Spindler sends from Namur the secret report on M. Ardouin.”

“To be examined.”

“M.  Ardouin sends from the same town the secret report on M. Spindler.”

“To be examined.”

“Doctor Van Ostadt, of the same town, sends a confidential note on the subject of Messrs. Spindler and Ardouin.”

“To be compared.  Go on!”

“Count Malipierri, of Turin, announces that the donation of 300,000 francs is signed.”

“Inform Duplessis.  What next?”

“Don Stanislaus has just quitted the waters of Baden with Queen Marie Ernestine.  He informs us that her majesty will receive with gratitude the promised advices, and will answer them with her own hand.”

“Make a note of it.  I will myself write to the queen.”

Whilst Rodin was inscribing a few remarks on the margin of the paper, his master, continuing to walk up and down the room, found himself opposite to the globe marked with little red crosses, and stood contemplating it for a moment with a pensive air.

Rodin continued:  “In consequence of the state of the public mind in certain parts of Italy, where sundry agitators have turned their eyes in the direction of France, Father Arsenio writes from Milan, that it would be of importance to distribute profusely in that country, some little book, in which the French would be represented as impious and debauched, rapacious and bloody.”

“The idea is excellent.  We might turn to good account the excesses committed by our troops in Italy during the wars of the Republic.  You must employ Jacques Dumoulin to write it.  He is full of gall, spite, and venom:  the pamphlet will be scorching.  Besides, I may furnish a few notes; but you must not pay Dumoulin till after delivery of the manuscript.”

“That is well understood:  for, if we were to pay him beforehand, he would be drunk for a week in some low den.  It was thus we had to pay him twice over for his virulent attack on the pantheistic tendencies of Professor Martin’s philosophy.”

“Take note of it—­and go on!”

“The merchant announces that the clerk is about to send the banker to give in his accounts.  You understand?’ added Rodin, after pronouncing these words with a marked emphasis.

“Perfectly,” said the other, with a start; “they are but the expressions agreed on.  What next?”

“But the clerk,” continued the secretary, “is restrained by a last scruple.”

After a moment’s silence, during which the features of Rodin’s master worked strongly, he thus resumed:  “They must continue to act on the clerk’s mind by silence and solitude; then, let him read once more the list of cases in which regicide is authorized and absolved.  Go on!”