La fortune de Fortuné : roman gai

On a dusty platform at the Invalides station, the narrator slips into a third‑class carriage bound for Versailles, only to find a vacant seat beside a rag‑clad vagrant who collapses into a thunderous snore. The man's tattered coat, grubby boots and the unmistakable scent of a tonyer’s workshop fill the compartment, drawing amused glances from the other passengers while a pair of hulking gendarmes reluctantly claim the seats on either side of him.

The sudden jolt of the train awakens the sleeper, who immediately begins to protest his arrest, insisting he is an honest, sober man despite the lingering smell of brandy. He fumbles for papers, producing a lone pipe and a crumpled ticket, while the narrator watches the scene unfold with a mix of curiosity and reluctant sympathy. As the train rolls into the suburbs, the vagabond’s desperate explanations and the gendarmes’ bemused silence hint at a larger tale of luck, misfortune, and the strange twists of everyday life.