"After?—no—before!" said Pique-Vinaigre.
"What! Do you suppose us capable of doing you out of twenty sous?" asked the Skeleton, with an air of disdain.
"By no means!" replied Pique-Vinaigre. "I honour the stone jug with my confidence, and it is in order to economise its purse that I ask for twenty sous in advance."
"On your word and honour?"
"Yes, gentlemen; for, after my story, you will be so satisfied, that it is not twenty sous but twenty francs—a hundred francs—you will force me to take! I know that I should be shabby enough to accept them; and thus, you see, it is from consideration, and you will do wisely to give me twenty sous in advance."
"You don't want for the gift of the gab!"
"I have nothing but my tongue, and I must make use of that. And then,—if it must be told,—my sister and her children are in terrible distress, and, in a small house, even twenty sous is a consideration."
"Then why doesn't your sister prig, and her kids, too, if they're old enough?" asked Nicholas.
"Don't ask me; it distresses—dishonours me! I am too kind—"
"What do you mean, you fool? Why, you encourage her!"