"One day, my loving Satiné, with whom I was dining, said to me:
"'Look you, my little Loquet,'—she always called me by the tail of my name,—'I have an opportunity to make a lot of money.'
"'My dear,' said I, 'you must seize it as you do my name—by the tail.'
"'I know someone who has invented a way of making gloves without seams. They will be splendid; fashionable people won't wear anything else. There's a hundred thousand francs to be made in it.'
"'Somebody once invented seamless boots,' I replied, 'but I don't think he ever made much money, for they didn't take.'
"'Hands aren't like feet. I am sure of the success of this enterprise.'
"'Go on and make your seamless gloves, then.'
"'But I must buy the secret process first, and I can't get it for less than fifteen thousand francs.'
"'That's rather dear for a few less seams.'
"'But with that fifteen thousand francs I shall make a hundred thousand!'