“All this for what price?”

“For a month?”

“Yes.”

“Four hundred francs.”

“Come, Monsieur Fingret, do not take me for a grisette who is dazzled by your fine descriptions. Please to reflect that you are asking at the rate of four thousand eight hundred francs a year, and for that I can take a whole furnished house. You disgust me with the Place Royale.”

“I am very sorry, madame.”

“Prove it, then; I will only give half that price.” Jeanne pronounced these words with so much authority that the merchant began again to think she might be worth conciliating.

“So be it, then, madame.”

“And on one condition, M. Fingret.”

“What, madame?”