“One o’clock in the morning; and the fourth examination did not take place until two. But, thank Heaven! in five minutes it was all made clear. The editor of the newspaper arrived, and burst into a hearty laugh when he learned of the condition of affairs; and this is what he told the Judge. My nephew had given them the particulars of a murder, and had been recompensed for it, and then the young man had acquired a taste for that occupation, and had come to apply for the situation. They had found him clear-headed, bold, and intelligent, and had sent him to take notes at the executions, at fires, etc., and the morning after the editor had a good idea. ‘The detectives were on the lookout for Anarchists, so I sent my reporters on the heels of each detective, and in this way I would be the first to hear of all the arrests. Now, you see, it all explains itself; the detective followed an Anarchist.’”
“And your nephew Joseph followed the detective?”
“Yes, but he dared not tell the truth, so he told me he was one of papa’s debtors.’ The man with the muffler was triumphant. ‘Am I still a Spaniard?’ ‘No, well and good,’ replied the Judge. ‘But an Anarchist is another thing.’ And in truth he was; but he only held one, that Judge, and was so vexed because he believed he had caught a whole gang, and was obliged to discharge us at four o’clock in the morning. I had to take a carriage to return to Versailles—got one for thirty francs. But found my poor wife in such a state!”
“And your nephew still clings to journalism?”
“Yes, and makes money for nothing but to ride about Paris that way in a cab, and to the country in the railway trains. The newspaper men are satisfied with him.”
“What does your brother say to all this?”
“He began by turning him out of doors. But when he knew that some months he made two and three hundred francs, he softened; and then Joseph is as cute as a monkey. You know my brother invented a cough lozenge, ‘Dervishes’ lozenges’?”
“Yes, you gave me a box of them.”
“Ah! so I did. Well, Joseph found means to introduce into the account of a murderer’s arrest an advertisement of his father’s lozenges.”—“How did he do it?”
“He told how the murderer was hidden in a panel, and that he could not be found. But having the influenza, had sneezed, and that had been the means of his capture. And Joseph added that this would not have happened to him had he taken the Dervishes Lozenges. You see that pleased my brother so much that he forgave him. Ah! there is my wife coming to look for me. Not a word of all this! It is not necessary to repeat that there is a reporter in the family, and there is another reason for not telling it. When I want to sell off to the people of Versailles, I go and find Joseph and tell him of my little plan. He arranges everything for me as it should be, puts it in the paper quietly, and they don’t know how it comes there!”