"Yes, monsieur."
"Without children?"
"Alas! yes, monsieur! I had a son, but I lost him!"
"The old fool!" muttered Agathe; "to revive my dear love's sorrow with his questions! What an inquisitive man!"
"We haven't any children either, my wife and I, and we congratulate ourselves on it every day! it's just so much less turmoil and trouble!"
"And I, monsieur, do not pass a day without regretting the son whom I lost; to my mind, it is so much less of happiness and of the purest love!"
Monsieur Jarnouillard bowed again; then he continued:
"You didn't pay a high price for this house—that is, if you bought it for fifteen thousand francs cash, as I understand."
"Twenty thousand, monsieur, and I do not consider it dear."
"Pardon me—the garden is small, and it yields nothing; you haven't enough rooms to let——"