“I have not found a money-lender, my dear sir. I have taken a great deal of trouble, I assure you, but I did not succeed.”
“Make an effort yourself.”
“Me? My dear sir!”
“I address myself to you.”
“But I have no ready money.”
“It is a desperate appeal that I make. I understand that your long experience in business makes you insensible to the misery that you see every day—”
“Insensible! Say that it breaks my heart, my dear sir.”
“But will you not permit yourself to be touched by the misery of a man who is young, intelligent, courageous, who will drown if a hand is not held out to help him? For you, the assistance that I ask so earnestly is nothing—”
“Three thousand francs! Nothing! Bless me! How you talk!”
“For me, if you refuse me, it is death.”