"As to politics," continued my wife, "what is happening?"
"I believe, madame, that all is at an end."
"In what sense?"
"In the sense of the President."
My wife looked fixedly at the man, and said to him,—
"You have come to arrest my husband, sir."
"It is true, madame," answered the man, opening his overcoat, which revealed the sash of a Commissary of Police.
He added after a pause, "I am a Commissary of Police, and I am the bearer of a warrant to arrest M. Victor Hugo. I must institute a search and look through the house."
"What is your name, sir?" asked Madame Victor Hugo.
"My name is Hivert."