“But they are precisely the people I do not wish to employ. I have just quitted them, never to return.”

“Have they had the misfortune to displease your excellency?”

“Seriously, M. Ducorneau.”

“Oh, if I dared speak.”

“You may.”

“I would ask how these people, who bear so high a name——”

“They are perfect Jews, M. Ducorneau, and their bad behavior will make them lose a million or two. I was sent by her gracious majesty to make an offer to them for a diamond necklace.”

“Oh! the famous necklace which had been ordered by the late king for Madame Dubarry?”

“You are a valuable man, sir—you know everything. Well, now, I shall not buy it.”

“Shall I interfere?”