Mercadet
Good to make toothpicks.

De la Brive
That's about it.

Mercadet
And it is worth?

De la Brive
Thirty thousand francs.

Mercadet
And mortgaged for—

De la Brive
Forty-five thousand!

Mercadet
And you had the skill to effect that?

De la Brive
Why, yes—

Mercadet
Damnation! But that was pretty clever! And your marshes, sir?

De la Brive
They border on the sea—