“Do you think so?” queried the watchmaker.
“That has never failed. I don’t know how those devils of Companions of Jehu manage to keep so well posted; but they never miss an opportunity.”
The doctor nodded affirmatively.
“Ah!” exclaimed the watchmaker, addressing the doctor; “do you think so, too?”
“I do.”
“And if you knew there was government money in the coach, would you be so imprudent as to take passage in it?”
“I must admit,” replied the doctor, “that I should think twice about it.”
“And you, sir?” said the questioner to the architect.
“Oh, I,” replied the latter—“as I am on important business, I should have started anyway.”
“I am tempted,” said the watchmaker “to take off my valise and my oases, and wait for to-morrow’s diligence, because my boxes are filled with watches worth something like twenty thousand francs. We’ve been lucky so far, but there’s no use tempting Providence.”