“Don’t get excited, my dear fellow, we haven’t been robbed.”
“Why, monsieur, we had about ten thousand francs left three days ago; now I can find only seven—and you say we haven’t been robbed!”
“No, Bertrand; it was I who took the money.”
“Oh! excuse me, lieutenant; if you have got it, that’s different.”
“I don’t say that I have it; I tell you that I had a use for it.”
“A thousand crowns in three days! you’re doing well, lieutenant. I don’t quite see why we came up to the fifth floor, for you didn’t spend any more on the first.”
“I met an old friend, Bertrand,—he was in destitution.”
“We may very well be there, too, and it won’t be long either, if we go on at this rate. Excuse me, lieutenant, I know how generous you are, I know your kind heart; but still you must remember that you haven’t twenty thousand francs a year any more; and when you can’t have anything but a piece of beef for dinner, it don’t seem to me that it’s the time to give other people partridges.”
“Don’t be angry, Bertrand; I am going to be prudent—yes, miserly.”
“Miserly! nonsense, lieutenant! you’ll never have that fault! In fact, I don’t believe it would help us now.”