"I don't know him; but if he is the Germain I have heard speak of, his affair is settled."
"How?"
"Why, he has only just escaped from a plot which Velu and the Stout-Cripple laid for him lately."
"Why?"
"I don't know, but they said that in the country somewhere he had tricked one of their pals."
"I was sure of it, Germain is a spy. Well, we'll spy him! I'll go and tell our friends; that'll set them sharper against him. By the way, how does Gros-Boiteux get on with your lodgers?"
"Thank heaven, I have got rid of him,—a blackguard! You'll see him here to-day or to-morrow."
"All right; how we shall laugh! He's a boy who is never taken aback!"
"It's because I knew that he would find this Germain here that I said his affair was settled,—if it's the same chap."
"Why have they got hold of the Gros-Boiteux?"