Leonard Merrick

“ The juge d'instruction desired sympathetically to know the date and hour of this temptation; and Péricat, never at a loss, replied promptly that it had been on the eve of the crime, the 3rd of June, shortly before 10 P.M. He then battled with emotion, and delivered his amazing harangue:
"Monsieur le Juge, is it that you will permit me to say something in the favor of the young man? He is a poet. As such I am bound to respect his gifts, while I deplore his morals. Like all the people of France, I revere the arts, and it grieves me to have been compelled to expose his iniquity. ”

“ Her chef's melancholy eyes, his romantic bearing, impressed her, against her will. For the first time since her marriage, she encouraged a domestic to confide private matters to her ear; and the graceful ambiguities with which Dupont parried the encouragement piqued her interest more still. Never had she visited the basement so often as now. In short, this blameless matron of middle age, this unimpeachable wife and exemplary mother, was growing sentimental about her cook.
And her pride suffered sorely to perceive it. The poet's dignity smarted in the kitchen, and the lady's in the parlor. ”

“ Removed to the prison cell, he asked himself, distraught, if any self-respecting poet had ever before been put in such a fix.
"How can you falter?" wailed Mariette, when she was allowed an interview. "If you remain here, you will die before the trial comes on."
"If I came out and were called 'cook,' I should die, too!" groaned the artist.
Then Mariette, profiting by her suspicion of the fat matron's sentiment for him, went to her with an appeal; and the matron's smarting self-esteem was vastly assuaged by the revelation that she had been sentimental about a poet and not a chef. ”

“ Your friend, the charbonnier's wife, is a liar. The monotony of the life! And when I am not hiding from this Péricat, I am positively pinned to his side. He insists that we have a great deal in common, because he is a rag-picker and I am a poet. ”

“ Unhappily, Mariette's interest in the top floor tenant was not shared by her mother, and the best the girl could do that evening was to annex an egg and pretend that she had broken it. De Fronsac bade her resign herself to the prospect of a "beautiful room" being "to let" shortly; but she stamped her foot, and all night she racked her brains. She racked them to such purpose that she produced an idea.
In the early morning the poet heard himself addressed, and fancied that it was the voice of de Musset inviting him to dinner. ”

“ Since it would have been unwise for two impostors to present themselves at the asylum together, he insisted that I should enter it before him! Does not this show that chivalry is not dead--that the poet m the man is stronger than the criminal--even as, in me, necessity was stronger than resistance?"
How long his rhodomontade might have continued one can not pretend to surmise, for in the French courts they will hearken unto such things indefinitely. De Fronsac, who had been torn by conflicting emotions since the date was mentioned, now interrupted him. ”

“ And again Péricat tapped his nose.
The man's suspicion would have made de Fronsac very uneasy if he had not repeated to himself that the man was a lunatic; and, even as it was, he sought to give him a wide berth. But Péricat was persistent in his friendly attentions; one would have said that he had conceived a warm affection for Théophile.
"I can not shake him off," the victim complained, when Mariette paid a visit there. "He takes my arm all day! It is no joke, believe me!" ”

“ Whereupon the other, who resembled a monkey more than a man, placed his finger upon his nose and tapped it with derision. The poet turned pale. His tormentor then uttered a singularly disagreeable laugh, and, linking his arm in de Fronsac's, proposed that they should take a little promenade round the recreation-yard; and, because he was afraid to say no, the impostor said that he would be very much pleased to do so.
"My name is Pierre Péricat," volunteered his companion. "By profession I am a rag-picker, a calling which, I assure you, is prettier than picking flowers." ”

“ I am not the egotist that I may appear. No doubt it would have seemed to him a noble deed had I kept his secret; but I felt that there was a nobler yet. I said: 'This is his first offense, as it is yours. Save him from himself! ”