MANUFACTURED FOR EXPORT.
A man, wearing a blue blouse, his brow dropping perspiration, appeared before the astonished provincial.
“Ah! M. Martin,” he exclaimed, “is this indeed you? I did not expect to see you again. I thought you had left Paris. I have often intended to inquire for you, but I am so busy when I go to the city that I have not a minute to spare.”
“You have then resumed business?” asked Eusebe.
“Oh, no; far from it. I was so fortunate as to acquire enough to satisfy my modest desires; I live now quite at my ease. Now and then, ’tis true, I do a little something in the way of trade, just to kill time.”
“One would suppose to see your house that it had been turned into a factory.”
“Would you not? But such is by no means the case. I furnish a few of the merchants in the neighborhood: indeed, I sell almost as much as I did in Paris. This is the only pastime I have. Formerly I employed a salesman and a porter; now I am entirely alone. To tell the truth, I do the work of four; but, you know, it is necessary for a man to be occupied.”
Without taking any further notice of his visitor, Lansade resumed his work among the glass and porcelain. After a few moments he said,—
“Sans cérémonie, M. Martin. Of course you remain to breakfast.”