"You've told me your program," said Chéri-Bibi, putting his elbows on the table, while the coffee was being served, "and I'm now going to speak of mine, if you don't mind. I promise you that it will make another man of you, my dear old Dodger, and you'll fancy we're back again to the best days of our youth."
"I'm listening, Monsieur Casimir," returned Hilaire, blowing smoke towards the ceiling and seemingly greatly interested in the rings which were forming above him.
"I know nothing more likely to make one forget the worries of family life and the anxieties of business," began Chéri-Bibi by way of prologue, "than to take a hand in certain schemes in which you have to bring into play some degree of cunning, presence of mind, coolness, and a great amount of pluck; in fact, all the qualities which enabled us in the old days to overcome very considerable difficulties. You cannot have forgotten them."
"Bless me, Monsieur Casimir, if I understand you aright, your program, while it offers us some amount of amusement, is not particularly one to go to sleep on."
"If you want to remain idle while I'm working, you can watch me on the job," returned Chéri-Bibi in a gruff voice.
"I should have some feeling of remorse, Monsieur Casimir——"
"If you have too much feeling of remorse, you can take the next train back——"
"Don't be upset, Monsieur Casimir. You know as well as I do that my life belongs to you. I gave it to you once for all. I owe everything to you. I am not ungrateful. Tell me what you intend to do," said Hilaire with a deep sigh. "Is there someone who still stands in your way?"
"Yes, there is someone who still stands in my way, Monsieur Hilaire. You've hit it in one."
"It's his own lookout," said the grocer with another deep and mournful sigh. "Yes, it will serve him right. As long as he is in your way, he is in my way, too! And, look here, I had better tell you right now," added the Dodger, who realized that it was not the moment for jesting, "that I shan't be easy in my mind until that someone no longer inconveniences you. Then we shall be able to enjoy in peace the good things of this delightful country. Upon my word, I really believe that between us we shall know how to manage the affair so that he doesn't worry us much longer."