The two masons who had made their fortune received this compliment beatifically full in the chest. Mignon, to whom Madame Sidonie was saying in a lackadaisical manner, "Ah! sir, you flatter me; no, I am too old to wear pink—" interrupted her in the middle of her sentence, to reply to Saccard:
"You are too kind; we merely did our business."
But Charrier was more polished. He finished his glass of Pomard and found means to make an observation.
"The works about Paris," said he, "have enabled the workman to live."
"Say also," resumed Monsieur Toutin-Laroche, "that they have given a magnificent spurt to all financial and industrial undertakings."
"And don't forget the artistic side of the question; the new thoroughfares are majestic," added Monsieur Hupel de la Noue, who flattered himself on his good taste.
"Yes, yes, it is a fine piece of work," murmured Monsieur de Mareuil, for the sake of saying something.
"As for the cost," gravely declared the deputy Haffner, who only opened his mouth on grand occasions, "our children will pay it, and that is only justice."
And as, when saying that, he looked at Monsieur de Saffré, who had not seemed to be getting on so well with the pretty Madame Michelin for the last few minutes, the young secretary, wishing to appear thoroughly acquainted with what was being said, repeated:
"That is indeed only justice."