He entered the inner room, where Balloquet, still in bed, nodded his head to him.
"I have come," the visitor repeated, "to collect a note of hand for three thousand francs, due to-morrow; but to-morrow being a holiday, it falls due the day before."
"Very well, monsieur. Please take a seat, and you shall be paid.—My dear Charles, will you be good enough to get the amount from my safe? It's in the closet at the head of my bed."
Balloquet said this with a self-possession which I could not but admire; I opened the closet, and we heard the jingling of money in the safe. I guessed that it was the squirrel playing with the coins with which he was confined, and I had to bite my lips to keep from laughing, while Balloquet exclaimed:
"I would like right well to know what my next-door neighbor is doing; something that shakes the house, apparently, as it makes the gold pieces dance in my safe; and it's like that almost all day. I shall end by complaining to the landlord.—Take three thousand francs and pay monsieur, will you, Charles?"
I put my head into the closet and replied:
"But the safe is locked and the key isn't in it."
"What do you say? the key isn't in the lock?"
"No."
"Look on the floor—and on top."