American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-04-05
to read copy of the Figaro which he
h I hr,t it'll hin,

: have the same objection which distiI
e cuisines my country men all over the worl
e toward making new acquaintances.
9 might have sat at my breakfast and tn
? old gentleman might have read his Ffgd'
: for the whole day without my making an
: advances toward him. Having, howeyel
finished his coffee and taken out hi
t portemonnaie to pay for it, some two c
three pieces of money slipped from III
: old gentleman's hand and role
stopped ana helped tss him to a'Ni loo
? for them; he thanked me, paid the wait
: er, called for petit eerTs, and we natural
| ly commenced talking together Curl
ously enough, the conversation turne'
who wished TO disguise themselves; tn
old gentleman maintaining that, as witt
individuals, SO with nations, no persol
could hide his peculiarities, or the pecu
liarities of his race. "For instance" h
went on, ''let a military man dress e,
bourgeois, or civilian put on a uniform
Frenchman have his clothes made il
London. or an Englishman go to a Pari
sian tailor; there was no doubt but tina
men of an ordinary observance coult
easily distinguish what the individual
one could mistake Monsieur to be any
thing but an Englishman, and one who
has most probably been in military EN-
ployment in his own country. In the
same way, l." meaning himself, "coult
not pass for anything except a French
man, a tnneur, and an unmistakable fire.
quenter of the boulevards."
He was such a chatty, genial old gen
tleman that the time passed away imper
ceptibly We talked about the success
of Schneider in London; about the EN-
peror's health; about the French elections
and what not. l accepted a pinch OF
| snuff from him, and he tried one of my
regalia cigars. AT last, as the time drew
near when Bergnet ought to have made
his appearance, l began to look at my
watch, and to glance round to see whether
the police agent had taken up his quar-
| tiers on any of the chairs which were then
| filling very fast with the usual after
kfast coffee drinking crowd of we'll
| dressed middle-class Paris idlers. Seeing
| | was looking for some one, my compan-
ion said: "Perhaps Monsieur is expect
ing friend?" eyes" replied, 81 made
an appointment with gentleman to meet
me here about one O'Clock, and 1 am
afraid l shall miss him in the crowd. ~
perhaps l can assist Monsieur" said the
old gentleman: SIS Monsieur's friend
short sceh little man? is his name Berg
net? because if so, he is at Monsieur dis
position.
With this the old gentleman took off his
hat, bringing away with it the gray false
side and back hair he wore; he straight
ened himself as ne sat in his chair, and,
behold Monsieur Bergnet was before
me. / had actually sat and talked to him
for upward of an hour. without having
the least idea to whom it was that l was
speaking. Rather than be beaten again
which felt certain would be the case
if l continued to tempt foItune-1 at once
gave in; paid NJ. Bergnet the five ma
poleons l had lost, and begged that he
would subject me to no more humiliation
by taking me in again as to his appear
ance and disguise
CHAPTER vI.-FoUND.
The day following that on which Berg
net had twice deceived me by Disgusting
himself, he set to work in earnest to try
and recover the bonds of which | was in
search. When learned from him, and,
indeed, saw with my own eyes, that he
called upon NJ. TIeves. the French
money lender, as an English gentleman
in difficulties who wanted to discount
bill, as young Swiss who wanted en-
ployment az q clerk, and as a German
who had got some bank notes which he
wished to get rid of quietly, as being
stolen property; when / saw that in none
of these DISCUSSES he was found out, be-
gan to be less ashamed of myself for hav-
ing been taken in. Certainly, in some
matters the old saying in the Crimea,
They manage these things better in
France" holds good How it was brought
about never knew Except that l had to
pay about e5 for the business), but within
a week after put the matter into Berg
nets hands NJ. Treves' only clerk was ar
rested for completely of fraud in some
thing or other. l don't think he was
a 7 h
detained very long by the police, for l
saw him the next day walking along the
boulevards as if enjoying a very agree
able holiday. But in the meantime NJ.
TTeves engaged a young Swiss with f1axen
hair as his employee and that Swiss bore
q very strong resemblance to my friend
Bergnet. This young Swiss clerk had
friend who often came to see him at his
masters office, and who must have been
twin brother to q subordinate agent of
the police, who was very clever in all
blacksmith's work, and who had curl
GUS fancy for taking wax impressions of
all the keys that he came across. Be that
as it may, the Swiss clerk had not been
more than a week with NJ. Treves when l
was shown by Nj. Bergnet a copy of the
Endorsement which certain bonds, con-
tanned in the safe of the money lender,
bore. This copy so far satisfied me that
and that was to get hold of the originals.
M. Bergnet had conducted the affair so very
well that resolved to put myself entirely
IN his hands, although doubt very much
whether at the Guildhall or Bow street
the way that l set to work would have
been considered quite justifiable.
Acting, therefore, under advice, and
anxious to get back the bonds with as lit
tie scandal as possible, 1 called one after
noon upon Nj. Treves, and asked to see
that gentleman alone. The Swiss clerk at
once admitted me to his master, but not
before l had noticed that in the ante
room there was person who looked I'M
commonly like an individual had seen
in the Rue de Jerusalem, but who now
did not wear his uniform. NJ. Treves,
who was a gentleman of about 50, seemed
to think l had come upon some business
which would be profitable to himself, and
asked me in the blandest tone what he
could do to serve me. l did not beat long
about the bush. l told him that two
months previously young man of such
n name had fed from Europe to America,
and that before doing so he had pledged
with NJ Treves certain bonds represent
ing such Il sum of money. These bonds
belonged to such and such a firm in Lon
don, and they had authorized me to pay
$500 for their recovery. That if NJ. Treves
was willing to accept my offer the little
business could be got over at once but
that if not there was police agent out
side into whose custody it would be my
disagreeable duty to consi On him pending
an investigation before the authorities of
having received stolen property knowing
it to be such
At first the money-lender clustered