"Yes, poor little things, unless it rains; in which case, instead of leaving their haunts, they will, as you know, drink out of the hollows of the leaves."
"Do you think it will rain, Boudoux?"
Boudoux shook his head.
"My aunt's barometer is at set fair, M. Auguste; it will not rain till the moon changes."
"Very well! Boudoux, take these ten francs, and block all the pools round about; on Saturday evening Dumas and I will come and draw the two pools near the Compiègne and Vivières roads. We ought to have a first-class hut near one or other of these two pools, to spend the night in."
"Very good, M. Auguste," said Boudoux, "I will attend to it."
"I want, besides, two thousand lime-twigs to-night, so as to get them smeared beforehand."
"You shall have them, M. Auguste."
"All right," said Lafarge, with the gestures of an emperor.
This was my first lesson in extravagance; the readers of Monte-Cristo can judge if it was lost on me!