“Monsieur,” replied a little man in black, “the owner of the house, of which you don’t pay the rent.”
“You ought to have warned me.”
“Summonses have been sent to you.”
“I did not read them.”
“That isn’t my fault.”
“I don’t know the forms of procedure.”
“What! monsieur is joking—a business agent!”
“I am not one now.”
Edouard left the officers of the law and went up to his office; the clerk was not there. He examined his papers, but he had no knowledge whatever of his business. He tossed the boxes angrily into the middle of the room. He went downstairs and called his servants; they had gone. The concierge alone remained, and he answered Edouard insolently, because he saw that he was ruined.