"
"I must confess that I don't see the connection."
M. Tabaret did not deign to reply. Turning to Father Absinthe, he
requested the old detective, in the most affable tones, to go to the
library and fetch two large volumes entitled: "General Biography of
the Men of the Present Age," which he would find in the bookcase on the
right. Father Absinthe hastened to obey; and as soon as the books were
brought, M. Tabaret began turning the pages with an eager hand, like a
person seeking some word in a dictionary.
"Esbayron," he muttered, "Escars, Escayrac, Escher, Escodica--at last
we have it--Escorval! Listen attentively, my boy, and you will be
enlightened."
This injunction was entirely unnecessary. Never had the young
detective's faculties been more keenly on the alert. It was in an
emphatic voice that the sick man then read: "Escorval (Louis-Guillaume,
baron d').--Diplomatist and politician, born at Montaignac, December
3d, 1769; of an old family of lawyers. He was completing his studies in
Paris at the outbreak of the Revolution and embraced the popular
cause with all the ardor of youth. But, soon disapproving the excesses
committed in the name of Liberty, he sided with the Reactionists,
advised, perhaps, by Roederer, who was one of his relatives. Commended
to the favor of the First Counsel by M. de Talleyrand, he began
his diplomatic career with a mission to Switzerland; and during the
existence of the First Empire he was entrusted with many important
negotiations.
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