"He is not insignificant, monsieur: as you will say, when you hear what he did in Paris."
"He was thrown into the prison of Ste. Pélagie, you told me."
"But he escaped, by choking a sacristan so that the poor man will long bear the marks on his throat. And the first thing I knew he was high in favor with the Marquis du Plessy, and Bonaparte spoke to him; and the police laughed at complaints lodged against him."
"Who lodged complaints against him?"
"I did, monsieur."
"But he was too powerful for you to touch?"
"He was well protected, monsieur the abbé. He flaunted. While the poor prince and myself suffered inconvenience and fared hard—"
"The poor prince, you say?"
"We never had a fitting allowance, monsieur," Bellenger declared aggressively. "Yet with little or no means I tried to bring this pretender to justice and defend his Majesty's throne."
"Pensioners are not often so outspoken in their dissatisfaction," remarked the priest.