"You astonish me! Why, everybody knows him. Don't you know the Fumeau biscuit? The young fellow who had a judicial adviser appointed for him two months ago? Don't you remember?"
"Not at all, I swear to you, Monsieur Xavier."
"Never mind, little turkey. Well, I played a good one on Fumeau last year,—a very good one. Guess what? You do not guess?"
"How do you expect me to guess, since I do not know him?"
"Well, it was this, my little baby. I introduced Fumeau to my mother. Upon my word! What do you think of that for a discovery? And the funniest part of it is that in two months mamma succeeded in blackmailing Fumeau to the tune of three hundred thousand bones. What a godsend that, for papa's works! Oh! they know a thing or two; they are up to snuff! But for that, the house would have gone up. We were over head and ears in debt. The priests themselves were refusing to have anything to do with us. What do you say to that, eh?"
"I say, Monsieur Xavier, that you have a queer way of treating the family."
"What do you expect, my dear? I am an Anarchist, I am. I have supped on the family."
That morning Madame was even nicer than usual with me.
"I am well satisfied with your service," she said to me. "Mary, I raise your wages ten francs."
"If she raises me ten francs every time," thought I to myself, "that will not be bad. It is more suitable."