talking and jabbering. The Saturday before, Joseph had a game of billiards
with the murderer."

"With the murderer!"

"Oh! accidentally--he knew him by sight, went to the same café, that's
all, and they had played at pool together, Joseph and the murderer--a man
named Nicot. Joseph told this to the crowd, and you may well imagine how
important that made him, when suddenly a little blond man seized him. 'You
know the murderer?' 'A little, not much; I played pool with him.' 'And do
you know the motive of the crime?' 'It was love, Monsieur, love; Nicot had
met a girl, named Eugénie--' 'You knew the victim, too?' 'Only by sight,
she was there in the café the night we played.' 'Very well; but don't tell
that to anybody; come, come, quick.' He took possession of Joseph and made
him get into a cab, which went rolling off at great speed down the
Boulevard des Italiens. Ten minutes after, Joseph found himself in a hall
where there was a big table, around which five or six young men were
writing. 'Here is a fine sensation,' said the little blond on entering.
'The best kind of a murder! a murder for love, in the Rue Montorgueil, and
I have here the murderer's most intimate friend.' 'No, not at all,' cried
Joseph, 'I scarcely know him.' 'Be still,' whispered the little blond to
Joseph; then he continued, 'Yes, his most intimate friend. They were
brought up together, and a quarter of an hour before the crime was
committed were playing billiards. The murderer won, he was perfectly
calm----' 'That's not it, it was last Saturday that I played with----' 'Be
still, will you! A quarter of an hour, it is more to the point. Let's go.
Come, come.' He took Joseph into a small room where they were alone, and
said to him: 'That affair ought to make about a hundred lines--you
talk--I'll write--there will be twenty francs for you.' 'Twenty francs!'
'Yes, and here they are in advance; but be quick, to business!' Joseph told