'But handcuffs seem to be a monopoly of the
State.'
'Evidently, Shawn, you are not familiar with the famous remark of Louis
the Fourteenth.'
'I am not, sir.'
'He said, "_L'etat, c'est moi_." Show me the catalogue.'
Simon, bearing on his shoulders at that moment the sins of ten managers,
scurried to bring an immense tome, bound in crimson leather, and
inscribed in gold, 'Hugo, General Catalogue.' It contained nearly two
thousand large quarto pages, and above six thousand illustrations. Hugo
turned solemnly to the exhaustive index, which alone occupied seventy
pages of small type, and, running his finger down a column, he read
out, Handbells, handbell-ringers, handbills, hand-embroidered sheets,
handkerchiefs, handles, handsaws, hansoms, Hardemann's beetle powder,
hares, haricot beans....'
'Lamentable!' he ejaculated--'lamentable! You will tell Mr.--Mr. Banbury
this morning to procure some handcuffs, assorted sizes, at once, and to
add them to the--the--Explorers' Outfit Department.'
'Precisely, sir.'
'In the meantime I shall have to ascend the dome, and face the burglar
without this necessary of life. Give me the revolver instead.'
CHAPTER VII
POSSIBLE ESCAPE OF SECRETS
The top of the dome was fashioned into a kind of belvedere, with a small
circular gallery.
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