Alfred de Rosann — page 153: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

144 ALFRED DE ROSANN. who had never thought of liquidating this long-stand- ing account with any of the various monies he had obtained by gambling, by trickery, or at the hands of our hero and Mr. Robson, put off the settlement till the next day; and when the proprietor of the inn pro- tested against a repetition of such idle promises, the soi-disant Count kicked him out of the room,-and, by the same process, aided him to descend the stairs some- what quicker than he had mounted them. The host was very indignant at such treatment, and threatened to complain to a police-magistrate; but Belle-Rose pa- cified his wrath, and pledged his honour asa “ French nobleman,” that the bill should be duly paid on the following morning. Say To procure funds for this purpose, the shameless fellow did not hesitate to call once more upon De Rosann, to solicit that which he was pleased to dig- nify by the respectable appellation of Joan instead of gift. Alfred was not however at home; and Belle-Rose resolved to wait for him. He lounged in and out of the two chambers which were occupied by our hero, and which communicated with one another; and at length his eye caught sight of Leblond’s letter and Champignon’s prospectus. He hastily perused the former, and immediately resolved to essay a*daring measure to possess himself of the treasure entrusted to De Rosann. Hethen glanced hastily on the latter, and laughed heartily at the schemes of the gastrono- mer; for he could not fail to recognise the invention of Champignon’s fertile genius, although the prospeec- tus purported to have been put forth by an individual bearing the appellation of Citron, which, as our read- ers will please to recollect, was the nom de guerre adopted by the “ best cook in Kurope”’ when he open- ed his shop at St. Malo. No sooner had Belle-Rose entertained the nefarious idea of robbing De Rosann on the highway, during a journey which the waiter had already informed the self-dubbed Count our hero projected, than he resolved not to tarry any longer in expectation of Alfred’s re- COMMICLOOOKS5(€)