"Oh! don't mind me! It's infernally cramped here, all the same! What the devil are you doing there?"
"As you see, I am putting these pins in boxes. I have to arrange them carefully and see that there's the same number in every box."
"How does this business of yours come on?"
"Not so badly; it rather looks as if it were going to take. I tell you, my fortune would be made, if I had been able to discover, as Rozière of Romainville did, all that can be done with Panama!"
"With Panama! why, they make straw hats with it, I thought."
"But Rozière made soap with it that cleanses perfectly, and many other things too."
Having seated himself, Dodichet said:
"First of all, before I tell you what brings me here, just lend me your bouffarde, will you; I want to have a puff."
"My bouffarde?"
"Yes; or your pipe, if you like that better."