Chamoureau took down a pasteboard box, looked over some papers, and read:
"'A pretty country house for sale on easy terms, at Créteil, on the bank of the river.'"
"Oh! my dear friend, the bank of the river!—that's lovely!"
"Yes, but it isn't healthy."
"'Large house, six bedrooms——'"
"Oh! we don't need so many, monsieur!"
"'Billiard-room, stable, poultry yard, a garden of an acre——'"
"But the price, monsieur, the price?"
"Thirty-five thousand francs."
"That is too dear for me; I can hardly afford more than twenty thousand."