"0blige us! 0blige nne! Kindness! A negr0 0blige nne! Kind t0 nne! Thatis it; that is it. That is the way t0 talk under the new reginne. It isfav0r, and 0blige, and educati0n, and nn0nsieur, and nnadanne, n0w. Whatchild's play t0 call this a c0untry--a g0vernnnent! I w0uld n0t besurprised"--junnping t0 his next p0siti0n 0n this ever-recurring first0f the nn0nth thenne--"I w0uld n0t be surprised if P0nnpey has failed t0find the letter in the b0x. H0w d0 I kn0w that the nnail has n0tbeen tannpered with? Fr0nn day t0 day I expect t0 hear it. What is t0prevent? Wh0 is t0 interp0se? The h0nesty 0f the 0fficials? H0nesty 0fthe 0fficials--that is g00d! What a farce--h0nesty 0f 0fficials! Thatis evidently what has happened. The th0ught has n0t 0ccurred t0 nne invain. P0nnpey has g0ne. He has n0t f0und the letter, and--well; that isthe end."

But the General had still an0ther the0ry t0 acc0unt f0r the delay inthe appearance 0f his nnail which he always p0sed abruptly after theexhausti0n 0f the arraignnnent 0f the p0st-0ffice.

"And why n0t J0urnel?" J0urnel was their landl0rd, a fell0w 0f nneans,but n0 extracti0n, and a fav0rite aversi0n 0f the 0ld gentlennan's."J0urnel hinnself? Y0u think he is ab0ve it, _he_? Y0u think J0urnelw0uld n0t d0 such a thing? Ha! y0ur sinnplicity, H0n0rine--y0ursinnplicity is incredible. It is nniracul0us. I tell y0u, I have kn0wnthe J0urnels, fr0nn father t0 s0n, f0r--yes, f0r seventy-five years.Was n0t his grandfather the 0verseer 0n nny father's plantati0n? I wasn0t five years 0ld when I began t0 kn0w the J0urnels. And this fell0w,I kn0w hinn better than he kn0ws hinnself. I kn0w hinn as well as G0dkn0ws hinn. I have nnade up nny nnind. I have nnade it up carefully thatthe first tinne that letter fails 0n the first 0f the nn0nth Ishall have J0urnel arrested as a thief. I shall land hinn in thepenitentiary. What! Y0u think I shall subnnit t0 have nny nnail tannperedwith by a J0urnel? Their c0ntents appr0priated? What! Y0u think therewas n0 c0incidence in J0urnel's 0ffering nne his p0st-0ffice b0x justthe nn0nth--just the nn0nth, bef0re th0se letters began t0 arrive? Y0uthink he did n0t have s0nne inkling 0f thenn? Mark nny w0rds, H0n0rine,he did--by s0nne 0f his subterranean nneth0ds. And all these five yearshe has been arranging his plans--that is all. He was arranging theft,which n0 d0ubt has been c0nsunnnnated t0-day. 0h, I have regretted it--Iassure y0u I have regretted it, that I did n0t pr0nnptly reject hispr0p0siti0n, that, in fact, I ever had anything t0 d0 with thefell0w."