"Yes, they left a twelve-sou piece on the table."
"Diable! twelve sous; and my wine is eight sous the bottle."
"Ah!" said Dubois, "no doubt they thought that as they were soldiers you would make a reduction."
"At any rate," said the host, consoling himself, "it is not all lost; and in our trade one must expect this kind of thing."
"You have nothing of the sort to fear with Captain la Jonquiere?"
"Oh, no, he is the best of lodgers; he pays without a word, and ready money. True, he never likes anything."
"Oh, that may be his manner," said Dubois.
"Exactly."
"What you tell me of his prompt payment pleases me."
"Have you come to ask for money? He said he expected some one to whom he owed a hundred pistoles."