The magistrate bit his lips. Then, after a moment’s silence, he said:
“Will you kindly tell me, sir, how I can assist you in this important work?”
“You can direct my researches, sir. As you have compiled the history of the department, none of the important event which have occurred in its capital can be unknown to you.”
“Truly, sir, I believe that in this respect I am tolerably well informed.”
“Then, sir, in the first place, your department was the centre of the operations of the Company of Jehu.”
“Sir, I have heard speak of the Companions of Jesus,” replied the magistrate with his jeering smile.
“The Jesuits, you mean? That is not what I am seeking, sir.”
“Nor is it of them that I am speaking. I refer to the stage robbers who infested the highroads from 1797 to 1800.”
“Then, sir, permit me to tell you they are precisely the ones I have come to Bourg about, and that they were called the Companions of Jehu, and not the Companions of Jesus.”
“What is the meaning of this title ‘Companions of Jehu’? I like to get at the bottom of everything.”