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‘Nor a big lump of matter, resembling an elephant in the
Jardin des Plantes?’
‘No.’
‘Nor a scamp with the air of an old red tail?’
‘No.’
‘As for the fourth, no one sees him, not even his adju-
tants, clerks, and employees. It is not surprising that you
did not see him.’
‘No. Who are all those persons?’ asked Marius.
The inspector answered:—
‘Besides, this is not the time for them.’
He relapsed into silence, then resumed:—
‘50-52. I know that barrack. Impossible to conceal our-
selves inside it without the artists seeing us, and then they
will get off simply by countermanding the vaudeville. They
are so modest! An audience embarrasses them. None of
that, none of that. I want to hear them sing and make them
da nce.’
This monologue concluded, he turned to Marius, and
demanded, gazing at him intently the while:—
‘Are you afraid?’
‘Of what?’ said Marius.
‘Of these men?’
‘No more than yourself!’ retorted Marius rudely, who
had begun to notice that this police agent had not yet said
‘monsieur’ to him.
The inspector stared still more intently at Marius, and
continued with sententious solemnity:—
‘There, you speak like a brave man, and like an honest