"I don't know. Hitherto no one has ever made me proposals on the subject."
"Well, then, I will begin."
"You offer to make my fortune?"
"Yes."
"What do you mean by a fortune?"
"Fifty thousand golden francs, for instance. Money is scarce, and fifty thousand francs now are worth a million. Well, I offer you that sum."
"To allow you to go down there?"
"Yes; but on condition that you come with me, and afford me your assistance in my undertaking."
"But what are you going to do? In five minutes that vault will be filled with soldiers, who will arrest you."
The Citizen Théodore was forcibly struck by this argument.