Mon. Gerbois is a man of irritable disposition and hasty temper. So he replied, testily:
“I beg of you, monsieur, do not insist.”
But the young man firmly held his ground.
“I don’t know how much you paid for it, monsieur, but I offer you double.”
“No.”
“Three times the amount.”
“Oh! that will do,” exclaimed the professor, impatiently; “I don’t wish to sell it.”
The young man stared at him for a moment in a manner that Mon. Gerbois would not readily forget, then turned and walked rapidly away.
An hour later, the desk was delivered at the professor’s house on the Viroflay road. He called his daughter, and said:
“Here is something for you, Suzanne, provided you like it.”