"Would you like in exchange ten thousand francs in Mississippi bonds?"
"Thanks, my dear, I prefer the hundred louis; give them to me; I am a good woman, and another day you will be more generous."
"Well, what have you to tell me? Come."—"First promise me one thing."
"What is it?"
"That as it is about an old friend, he shall come to no harm."
"But if your old friend is a beggar who deserves to be hanged, why should you cheat him of his due?"
"I have my own reasons."
"Go along; I promise nothing."
"Well, good-evening then. Here are the hundred louis."
"Ah! you are getting scrupulous all at once."