namely, for an ordinary judge, and for an ecclesiastic.”
“And you have seven, you say; an excellent affair.”
“Nay, a bad one, and for this reason. How can I possibly
treat these poor fellows, who are of some good, at all
events, otherwise than as a councilor of parliament?”
“Yes, you are right; I do not see five francs difference
between them.”
“You understand; if I have a fine fish, I pay four or five
francs for it; if I get a fine fowl, it costs me a franc and
a half. I fatten a good deal of poultry, but I have to buy
grain, and you cannot imagine the army of rats that infest
this place.”
“Why not get half a dozen cats to deal with them?”
“Cats, indeed; yes, they eat them, but I was obliged to give
up the idea because of the way in which they treated my
grain. I have been obliged to have some terrier dogs sent me
from England to kill the rats. These dogs, unfortunately,
have tremendous appetites; they eat as much as a prisoner of
the fifth order, without taking into account the rabbits and
fowls they kill.”
Was Aramis really listening or not? No one could have told;
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Dumas, Alexandre – Ten Years Later
his downcast eyes showed the attentive man; but the restless
hand betrayed the man absorbed in thought — Aramis was
meditating.
“I was saying,” continued Baisemeaux, “that a good-sized
fowl costs me a franc and a half, and that a fine fish costs
me four or five francs. Three meals are served at the
Bastile, and, as the prisoners, having nothing to do, are
always eating, a ten-franc man costs 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 snapped up.
“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.”
“Really, you are quite a philanthropist, my dear governor,
and you will ruin yourself.”
“No, understand me; when the fifteen-franc has not eaten his
fowl, or the ten-franc has left his dish unfinished, I send
it to the five-franc prisoner; 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 a truffled pasty, dishes which he never tasted
except in his dreams; these are the leavings of the
twenty-four franc prisoners; and as 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
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me five sous, I made him tipsy every Sunday. That class of
people call down blessings upon me, and are sorry to leave
the prison. Do you know that I have remarked, and it does me
infinite honor, that certain prisoners, who have been set at
liberty, have, almost immediately afterwards, got imprisoned
again? Why should this be the case, unless it be to enjoy
the pleasures of my kitchen? It is really the fact.”