"What crime?"
"Yes, what crime?"
"Guess," said Jacques. "This fellow ought to know more about crimes than I do," he added to himself, "so I will let him give me a list, and then make my selection."
"Have you murdered anybody?" asked the jailer.
"Great God! what do you take me for, my friend?" cried the student, whose conscience rose in revolt at the thought of being taken for a murderer.
"Have you stolen anything?" continued the jailer.
"Stolen? the idea!"
"What in Heaven's name have you done then?" cried the jailer testily. "To give yourself up as a criminal isn't all that is necessary: you must say what crime you've committed."
"But I tell you that I'm a villain, a vile wretch, and that I deserve the wheel or the gallows!"
"The crime? the crime?" the jailer repeated.