The next morning, on arriving at the office, I asked Meurtrier how he
had employed the previous evening, and he instantly improvised, without
a moment's hesitation, an account of a sharp encounter on the boulevard
at two in the morning, when he had knocked down with a single blow of
his fist, having passed his thumb through the ring of his keys, a
terrible street rough. I listened, smiling ironically, and thinking to
confound him; but remembering how respectable a virtue is which is
hidden even under an absurdity, I struck him amicably on the shoulder,
and said, with conviction:
"Meurtrier, you are a hero!"
[Illustration]