I have been obliged to have some terrier dogs sent me from England to kill the rats.

These dogs, unfortunately, have tremendous appetites; they eat as much as a prisoner of the fifth order, without taking into account the rabbits and fowls they kill." Was Aramis really listening or not?
No one could have told; his downcast eyes showed the attentive man, but the restless hand betrayed the man absorbed in thought--Aramis was meditating.
"I was saying," continued Baisemeaux, "that a good-sized fowl costs me a franc and a half, and that a fine fish costs me four or five francs.
Three meals are served at the Bastile, and, as the prisoners, having nothing to do, are always eating, a ten-franc man costs me seven francs and a half." "But did you not say that you treated those at ten francs like those at fifteen ?" "Yes, certainly." "Very well! Then you gain seven francs and a half upon those who pay you fifteen francs." "I _must_ compensate myself somehow," said Baisemeaux, who saw how he had been snapped up.
"You are quite right, my dear governor; but have you no prisoners below ten francs ?" "Oh, yes! we have citizens and barristers at five francs." "And do they eat, too ?" "Not a doubt about it; only you understand that they do not get fish or poultry, nor rich wines at every meal; but at all events thrice a week they have a good dish at their dinner." "Really, you are quite a philanthropist, my dear governor, and you will ruin yourself." "No; understand me; when the fifteen-franc has not eaten his fowl, or the ten-franc has left his dish unfinished, I send it to the five-franc prisoner; it is a feast for the poor devil, and one must be charitable, you know." "And what do you make out of your five-franc prisoners ?" "A franc and a half." "Baisemeaux, you're an honest fellow; in honest truth I say so." "Thank you, my lord.

But I feel most for the small tradesmen and bailiffs' clerks, who are rated at three francs.

They do not often see Rhine carp or Channel sturgeon." "But do not the five-franc gentlemen sometimes leave some scraps ?" "Oh! my lord, do not believe I am so stingy as that; I delight the heart of some poor little tradesman or clerk by sending him a wing of a red partridge, a slice of venison, or a slice of a truffled pasty, dishes which he never tasted except in his dreams; these are the leavings of the twenty-four-franc prisoners; and as he eats and drinks, at dessert he cries 'Long live the King,' and blesses the Bastile; with a couple bottles of champagne, which cost me five sous, I make him tipsy every Sunday.

That class of people call down blessings upon me, and are sorry to leave the prison.