The little Frenchman had two aims: one, to keep the conversation on subjects of his own selection, and the other, to study without being observed.

Among one of his own tales (butterflies) he told of a chase he once had made in the mountains of the Moors, in Abyssinia.

To illustrate it he took up one of the nets standing in the corner.

In his excitable way he was a very good actor.

And when he swooped down the net to demonstrate the end of the story, it caught on a button on Breitmann's coat.
"Pardon!" said M.Ferraud, with a blithe laugh.