"Very little, monseigneur, very little."
"You have, nevertheless, a superb handwriting, M. Buvat."
"Yes, but all the world does not appreciate the value of that talent as your eminence does."
"That is true, but you are employed at the library?"——"I have that honor."
"And your place brings you—?"
"Oh, my place—that is another thing, monseigneur; it brings me in nothing at all, seeing that for five years the cashier has told us at the end of each month that the king was too poor to pay us."
"And you still remained in the service of his majesty? that was well done, M. Buvat; that was well done."
Buvat rose, saluted Dubois, and reseated himself.
"And, perhaps, all the while you have a family to support—a wife, children?"
"No, monseigneur; I am a bachelor."