I say to them as Harpagon did to Elise, Is it the _word_ or the _thing_ that alarms you?
Whoever has fraudulently taken that which does not belong to him, is guilty of robbery.

(_Penal Code, Art.

379._) _To rob_: To take furtively, or by force.

(_Dictionary of the Academy._) _Robber_: He who takes more than his due.

(_The same._) Now, does not the monopolist, who, by a law of his own making, obliges me to pay him twenty francs for an article which I can get elsewhere for fifteen, take from me fraudulently five francs, which belong to me?
Does he not take it furtively, or by force?
Does he not require of me more than his due?
He carries off, he takes, he demands, they will say, but not _furtively_ or _by force_, which are the characteristics of robbery.
When our tax levy is burdened with five francs for the bounty which this monopolist carries off, takes, or demands, what can be more _furtive_, since so few of us suspect it?
And for those who are not deceived, what can be more _forced_, since, at the first refusal to pay, the officer is at our doors?
Still, let the monopolists reassure themselves.