"A superb position for a man still young and made to please the ladies."
"Oh! monsieur, I am fifty-five."
"That is the very prime of life, the age at which a man makes most conquests, because he knows better how to go about it. Ah! I would like to be fifty-five! I hope to get there, but I haven't yet. You have some means?"
"Five or six thousand francs a year, which I made in dried fruit."
"A very pretty business!—That isn't a magnificent fortune, but it is that pleasant mediocrity so highly praised by Horace. Do you know Horace?"
"Yes, I have seen it played at the Théâtre-Français."
"Ah! I guess we will stop there! Have you children, excellent Courbichon?"
"I have a daughter, monsieur,—a married daughter; I have set her up in business."
"In dried fruit?"
"No, monsieur; she is in olive oil."