"To make the public swallow that."

"But since you are not going to tell the public."

"That is true. By my faith, I believe you are right. Wait."

"I am waiting."

"Have you Nodier's 'Souvenirs de la Revolution'? I believe he
wrote one or two pages about Guyon, Lepretre, Amiet and Hyvert."

"They will say, then, that you have plagiarized from Nodier."

"Oh! He loved me well enough during his life not to refuse me
whatever I shall take from him after his death. Go fetch me the
'Souvenirs de la Revolution.'"

Alexandre brought me the book. I opened it, turned over two or
three pages, and at last discovered what I was looking for. A
little of Nodier, dear readers, you will lose nothing by it.
It is he who is speaking:


The highwaymen who attacked the diligences, as mentioned in the
article on Amiet, which I quoted just now, were called Lepretre,
Hyvert, Guyon and Amiet.

Lepretre was forty-eight years old. He was formerly a captain
of dragoons, a knight of St. Louis, of a noble countenance,
prepossessing carriage and much elegance of manner. Guyon and