CAROLINE. Fifteen thousand francs.
DUPONT. Um. That is a large sum. But the sixteen thousand that remain?
CAROLINE. I meant to ask your advice about that.
DUPONT [rising] Ah, well, my dear, I have been thinking this over. Let’s consider what openings there are for capital. Suppose you invest it? Gilt edged securities bring in two and a half per cent. If you take something rather more speculative, you may get four. Then there are the big industrial companies. But with them, too, there are risks to be faced. Foreign competition is more and more threatening. The struggles between labor and capital are reaching an acute phase.
CAROLINE. M. Antonin Mairaut has been to see me.
DUPONT. The scoundrel! I’ll bet he wanted you to invest the money in his bank.
CAROLINE. He did suggest it.
DUPONT. You see. I guessed as much. You sent him about his business, I hope?
CAROLINE. I said I would think about it.
DUPONT. That’s right. But what a fright you gave me. To invest your money in a bank. Nothing could be more risky. Well, as we were saying. No public companies, no industrials, no shares in banks. What remains?