The Launching of Roger Brook

recess. You won't have time for that in the mornings since 'twill be for you now to sweep out the office, clear the wastepaper baskets and fill the inkpots, unless you choose to do that overnight; but I've always been too tired by evening after eight hours of that old brute Brochard's driving.'

Roger's mouth hardened. When he had accepted Maitre Leger's offer he had expected to be faced with long hours of dreary and uninteresting work, but not to be sent back to school again; and young Colas had painted a picture of a more exacting life than that led by the most junior fags at Sherborne.

'I'll do all there is to do in the office, if 'tis required of me,' he said, 'but you can all get your water for yourselves and run your own errands.'

'We'll see about that,' scoffed Colas. 'Hutot is as strong as a bull, and as easily angered. Cross him if you like but 'twill be the worse for you. And don't think 'twill do you any good to go tale-bearing to Maitre Leger. If you do we'll make your life hell for you.'

He paused for a moment, then went on more kindly. 'Take my advice and do as Hutot tells you without complaining. You'll soon get used to it, and I will lend you a hand now and then. I'll give you a good tip, too. Keep on the right side of Brigitte, the cook, and she'll give you a decent portion at meals.'

Roger accepted this belated olive branch but reserved his decision as to how far he would make himself a slave to the other apprentices; then, as the day was now well advanced, he said he would go and fetch his belongings from the Du Guesclin.

He had already settled up there that morning, so he had only to collect his bag, and, on the way, he decided to take a walk through the town in order to think over the new situation in which he found himself.

Apart from the personal loss he felt over the death of old Aristotle Fenelon he was just beginning to realise how much he would miss the free life of the road, as the constant change of scene and interest had suited his temperament. By comparison the lawyer's office offered not only a narrow life but one of drudgery. Yet to settle down there for a time at least offered security and seemed his only way of escape from the perils which beset a life of homeless vagabondage.

There was, too, the question of Athenais. Even with his other pre­occupations during the day she had never been far from his thoughts and, although Monsieur Aldegonde had said that she would be absent from Rennes for some weeks, she was certain to return there in due course. He felt that, come what might, he could not possibly bring himself to leave Rennes without seeing her again; so the obvious course was to make the best of things for the time being at Maitre Leger's.

One point about his new position worried him considerably. His master had naturally assumed that he knew German, and, although it seemed unlikely that much German correspondence passed through the office, he did not want to be caught out; not only for his own sake but because of the awkward position in which it would place his benefactor, now that he was presumed to be one of Maitre Leger's relatives by marriage.

It was clear that he could not hope to master the language in a few weeks without proper tuition, but he felt that with the aid of a German grammar, for such secret study as he could get in during his spare time, he might be able to learn sufficient of it to make out the contents of a letter; so he walked the streets until he found a bookshop on the Quai de Lamennais, where he managed to buy a 'First Steps in German' and a French-German dictionary.

Darkness was now falling, so, quickening his pace, he collected his things at the Du Guesclin and made his way back to the lawyer's house in the Rue d'Antrain.

Up in the attic he found his new room.-mates tidying themselves up before going down to supper. They immediately all crowded round him with a spate of questions. He did his best to answer civilly but without committing himself too far on the score of his past circumstances.

The dark, well-dressed Quatrevaux proved his most persistent questioner, but it was the surly-looking Hutot who said:

'So; you're a relative of Madame Leger's, are you? Well, don't imagine that We shall treat you any differently on that account. You are now the junior here and will consider yourself as our servant.'

'Nay, nay,' Quatrevaux protested in a mocking voice, 'how crudely you put things, Hutot. Monsieur Breuc is not our servant, but a friend who will be delighted to render us certain services; and, as an earnest of his friendship, he was just about to suggest procuring half a dozen bottles of good wine in which we could drink his health to- night.'

Roger knew that the custom of paying one's footing was a common one on entering many walks of life, so he replied at once: 'I will do so with pleasure, Messieurs, if you will be good enough to tell me where best to buy them.'

'After supper I will take you to a good place round the corner,' volunteered Quatrevaux. 'But there is supper, so let us go down.'

A handbell had begun to clang as he was speaking and, on hearing it, all the others made a dash for the door, leaving Roger and Quatrevaux to bring up the rear.

'Ill-mannered brutes,' murmured the dark young man. 'By the way they rush for their food anyone could tell that they come from peasant families; but I saw at the first glance, Monsieur Breuc, that you are a person of some breeding.'

' Tis true, Monsieur, and I am happy to be able to return the compliment.'

'I trust we shall be friends, then. In these times persons who have any pretensions to quality should stand together. But I warn you to have a care how you cross Hutot. He is cunning as well as strong and in a position to make your life a misery if you refuse to obey his slightest whim.'

'Thanks for the warning,' said Roger gratefully. 'As for your offer of friendship, Monsieur, I am most happy to accept it. If my lot is to be a hard one here 'twill be a great consolation to have someone to whom I can talk freely.'

On their reaching the ground floor Quatrevaux led Roger through a short passage at the back of the hall to a one-storeyed wing of the house that jutted out along the side of a small courtyard. It contained Maitre Leger's dining-room and the kitchen quarters.

Roger had supposed that the apprentices would eat with the master of the house, but Quatrevaux told him that only Brochard enjoyed that privilege, and that of being waited on by Aimee, the little fifteen-year old maid. The rest of the staff lived out, and to fend for themselves in the kitchen was considered good enough for the apprentices.

The others were already seated at a big deal table and Brigitte, the ample-bosomed young cook, was ladling stew from a saucepan on to their plates. Roger wished her good-evening and, as soon as she had helped him, set to; but before he was a third of the way through, the others had guzzled their portions and were calling for a second helping. By the time his turn came Hutot had demanded a third and the saucepan was empty, which provoked a general laugh at Roger's expense. There was only bread and cheese to follow, but ample of that, so he made up on it and did not leave the table hungry.

When they bad finished they all went out into the town and, leaving their companions, Quatrevaux took Roger to a small tavern nearby: on entering which he at once suggested that they should drink a bottle together on their own.

' 'Twill take us half an hour or more to dispose of a bottle,' Roger hazarded, thinking of his extremely small store of crowns. 'Will not the others become angry at being kept waiting for so long?'

'Nay, we have ample time,' Quatrevaux shrugged. ' 'Tis perhaps some excuse for the way they bolt their food that on weekdays after supper is our only time of recreation. All of us have a tryst with some wench most evenings, but must be in by ten, as Brochard locks up at that hour and has a dozen unpleasant ways of taking it out of late­ comers. Tis on that account we are forced to celebrate by taking bottles up to our room; but you can depend upon it that none of them will be back before St. Pierre's bells have begun their chiming.'

'In that case what wine will you drink?' asked Roger, endeavouring to hide his anxiety as to whether his funds would run to this evening's entertainment.

To his relief his new friend answered: 'They have a good Chateau Neuf du Pope here that is not expensive, and for the wine we are to take back the Vin Ordinaire will serve. Those clowns have no palates for a good vintage. They scarce know one wine from another and require only something upon which they can sozzle themselves.'

At a table in one of a line of partitioned recesses they enjoyed their bottle and, meanwhile, Quatrevaux gave