There was a cab-stand only a few steps from the house,
but he preferred to run to the jobmaster's stables in the Rue
Feydeau.
"Cab, sir!" shouted several men, as they saw him approaching.
He made no reply, but began to examine the horses with the air of
a connoisseur, until at last he found an animal that suited him.
Thereupon he beckoned to the driver, and going to the little
office where a woman sat reading: "My five sous, if you please,"
he said, authoritatively.
The woman looked at him. Most jobmasters are in the habit of
giving five sous to any servant who comes in search of a cab for
his master; and this was the custom here. But the keeper of the
office, who felt sure that Chupin was not a servant, hesitated;
and this made the young fellow angry. "Make haste," he cried,
imperiously. "If you don't, I shall run to the nearest stand."
The woman at once threw him five sous, which he pocketed with a
satisfied grin. They were his--rightfully his--since he had taken
the trouble to gain them. He then hastily returned to the office
to inform his employer that the cab was waiting at the door, and
found himself face to face with a sight which made him open his
eyes to their widest extent.
M. Fortunat had profited by his clerk's absence, not to disguise
himself--that would be saying too much--but to make some changes
in his appearance. He had arrayed himself in a long overcoat,
shiny with grease and wear, and falling below his knees; in place
of his elegant satin cravat he had knotted a gaudy silk
neckerchief about his throat; his boots were worn, and out of
shape; and his hat would have been treated with contempt even by a
dealer in old clothes.
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