"The gentleman knew Sand, then?"

"The gentleman is the governor of the prison in which Sand was confined."

"Indeed?"

"For nine months--that is to say, from the day he left the hospital--
this gentleman saw him every day."

"Excellent!"

"But that is not all: this gentleman was with him in the carriage that
took him to execution; this gentleman was with him on the scaffold;
there's only one portrait of Sand in all Mannheim, and this gentleman has
it."

I was devouring every word; a mental alchemist, I was opening my crucible
and finding gold in it.

"Just ask," I resumed eagerly, "whether the gentleman will allow us to
take down in writing the particulars that he can give me."

My interpreter put another question, then, turning towards me, said,
"Granted."

Mr. G----got into the carriage with us, and instead of going on to
Heidelberg, we returned to Mannheim, and alighted at the prison.

Mr. G---did not once depart from the ready kindness that he had shown.
In the most obliging manner, patient over the minutest trifles, and