The large diamond earrings were worth twenty thousand francs; the bracelets, thirty-five thousand; the rings, sixteen thousand; a set of emeralds and sapphires, fourteen thousand; a gold chain with solitaire pendant, forty thousand—making the sum of one hundred and forty-three thousand francs.
The jeweler remarked, jokingly:
“There was a person who invested all her savings in precious stones.”
Monsieur Lantin replied, seriously:
“It is only another way of investing one's money.”
That day he lunched at Voisin's, and drank wine worth twenty francs a bottle. Then he hired a carriage and made a tour of the Bois. He gazed at the various turnouts with a kind of disdain, and could hardly refrain from crying out to the occupants:
“I, too, am rich!—I am worth two hundred thousand francs.”
Suddenly he thought of his employer. He drove up to the bureau, and entered gaily, saying:
“Sir, I have come to resign my position. I have just inherited three hundred thousand francs.”
He shook hands with his former colleagues, and confided to them some of his projects for the future; he then went off to dine at the Cafe Anglais.