"No, but which will make the fortune of all my workmen, and yours, too."
"Well," said Jean, somewhat shaken, "if I don't do your work others will and I shan't be able to prevent them. I will work for you then, until I have earned a thousand francs. But who will keep me while I am paying my debt to you day by day?"
"I will, for I will add a third to your day's wages."
"A third is very little, for I must dress myself. I am stripped bare."
"Well! I will double it. Your day's wages would be thirty sous at the current rate hereabout; I will pay you three francs and you shall receive half of it every day, the other half going toward your indebtedness to me."
"Very well; it will take a long while—at least four years."
"You are wrong; it will be just two years. I think that two years hence I shall have nothing more to build."
"What, monsieur, I am to work for you every day—every day in the year without a break?"
"Except Sunday."
"Oh! Sunday—I should think so! But shan't I have one or two days a week to pass as I choose?"