“‘I protest I think they are,’ said he. ‘Except a propensity to petty pilfering, they are honest beasts.’
“‘They are most affectionate,’ said I, wishing to flatter him; but he took no notice of the observation.
“‘Madame,’ exclaimed he, after a pause, and with a voice of unusual energy, ‘I was so near being caught in a trap this very morning.’
“‘Dear me,’ said I, ‘and they laid a trap for you?’
“‘An infernal trap,’ said he. ‘A mistake might have cost me my liberty for life. Do you know M. Laborde, the director of the Gymnase?’
“‘Ihave heard of him, but no more.’
“‘What a “fripon” he is! There is not such a scoundrel living; but I ‘ll have him yet. Let him not think to escape me! Pardon, Madame, does my tail inconvenience you?’
“‘Not at all, sir. Pray don’t stir.’
“I must say that, in his excitement, the beast whisked the appendage to and fro with his paw in a very furious manner.
“‘Only conceive, Madame, I have passed the night in the open air; hunted, chased, pursued,—all on account of the accursed M. Laborde. I that was reared in a warm climate, brought up in every comfort, and habituated to the most tender care,—exposed, during six hours, to the damp dews of a night in the Bois de Boulogne. I know it will fall on my chest, or I shall have an attack of rheumatism. Ah, mon Dieu! if I shouldn’t be able to climb and jump, it would be better for me to be dead.’