“Have patience. I thought that you were going into business with those two young men you were drinking beer with at the Grand Turk?”
Toto uttered a shrill cry of anger at these words. “Business with them?” shrieked he; “they are regular clever night thieves.”
“Have they done you any harm, my poor lad?”
“Yes; they have utterly ruined me. Luckily, I saw Mascarin yesterday, and he set me up in the hot-chestnut line. He ain’t a bad one, is Mascarin.”
Tantaine curled his lip disdainfully. “Not a bad fellow, I dare say, as long as you don’t ask him for anything.”
Toto was so surprised at hearing Tantaine abuse Mascarin, that he was unable to utter a word.
“Ah, you may look surprised,” continued the old man, “but when a man is rolling in riches, and leaves an old friend to starve, then he is not what I call a real good fellow. Now, Toto, you are a bright lad, and so I don’t mind letting you know that I am only waiting for a good chance to drop Mascarin, and set up on my own account. Work for yourself, my boy.”
“I know that; but it is a good deal easier to say than to do.”
“You have tried then?”
“Yes, I have; but I came to grief over it. You know all about it as well as I do, for don’t tell me you didn’t hear every word I said that night you were hunting up Caroline Schimmel. However, I’ll tell you. One day when I saw a lady who looked rather nervous get out of a cab, I followed her. I was decently togged out, so I rang at the door. I was so sure that I was going to make a haul that I would not have taken ninety-nine francs for the hundred that I expected to make. Well, I rang, a girl opened the door, and in I went. What an ass I made of myself! I found a great brute of a man there, who thrashed me within an inch of my life, and then kicked me downstairs. See, he made his mark rather more plainly than I liked.” And removing his cap, the boy showed several bruises about his forehead.