“And that investment that someone wanted to make?”
“The person made two appointments with you that you didn’t keep.”
“For heaven’s sake, do these people think that I am at their orders?”
“They say that you should be prompt.”
“Hold your tongue! You are an insolent fellow! I have no need of a fellow who sleeps on my desk. I discharge you.”
“Monsieur will please pay me my wages first.”
“Your wages! You earn them by sleeping.”
“Monsieur, it isn’t my fault that there isn’t anything to do in your office; pay me and——”
“I’ll pay you; leave me.”
Edouard was well aware that he had nothing with which to pay his clerk; he opened the desk, examined all the drawers, and found nothing. He relied upon the sum which Dufresne still had in his hands, and determined to see him and urge him to sell at once at any price; he absolutely must have money. Fatigued and discomfited by his sitting at the gaming table, he did not wish to go out before he had changed his clothes, and he decided to send someone at once to summon Dufresne. He rang and called his servant, but no one replied. The servants had become unaccustomed to seeing their master since Adeline had left the house; Edouard sometimes passed several nights in succession away; the servants no longer observed any restraint, and spent their time amusing themselves. Faithful Marie, the only honest one of them all, had left the house after her mistress’s departure.