“I am not without prospects; I am promised a place in a government office.”
“Really?”
“With a salary of six thousand francs.”
“Impossible!”
“Quite possible, on the contrary; but you see everything in dark colors.”
“It is you who see everything in rose color, monsieur.”
“If that place should fail me, it is probable that I shall go into a banking-house, as bookkeeper.”
“Did you ever keep books, monsieur?”
“No; but what difference does that make? Do you suppose that one has to study for a place like that, as one would study mechanics? With a neat handwriting, familiarity with rates of exchange and mathematics, and a little intelligence, you can fill any sort of clerkship. I know that there are people who study two or three years to learn how to copy a letter, and others who consider themselves Archimedeses, Newtons or Galileos, because they pass their lives doing sums.”
“It seems to me, monsieur, that when a man has a place, he ought to work.”