"No, that would be too much; I am content with the price I told you."
"But in that case you earn less than five francs a day, for you have to buy your wool and your silk."
"Oh! if I earned five francs a day, that would be too fine; I should be too rich!"
"So you are not ambitious, eh? You have no desire to change your position?"
"Hum! that depends. To change it for a short time would hardly be worth while. Sometimes I have had dreams: at such times, I see myself in a superb apartment; I have diamonds and handsome dresses, a carriage, and servants to wait on me; oh! it's magnificent!"
"I understand the moral!" said Edward to himself. "We would like to obtain all those things! The damsel seems to be decidedly calculating!"
While making these reflections, the young man left his couch and planted himself in front of the chair occupied by Georgette; and there, with his head thrown back and one hand on his hip, he eyed her coolly and laughed in her face, saying:
"Do you know that you're nobody's fool, my dear?"
Georgette supported his stare and his question without the slightest trace of emotion; she simply rose from her chair and said:
"I am very glad that you have so good an opinion of me, monsieur."