“I mean to sell our furniture, turn everything we own into cash, and then leave Paris and seek in some other land a means of turning to account such talents as I have. You will go with me, won’t you, Bertrand?”
“Anywhere, monsieur, anywhere you choose. But why this sudden decision? Couldn’t you do it without leaving Paris?”
“No, my friend; in this city, where I have lived the life of a man of wealth, it would be hard for me, I know, to turn my trifling talents to account. Forgive this last exhibition of weakness.”
“Before we resort to this step, is there no longer any hope of your finding employment?”
“Hope is the very thing that is using up what little means I have left. Besides, here in Paris I am not able to resist my taste for dissipation. Perhaps I shall be wiser in some other country. So we must make our preparations to start. If this experiment isn’t successful at all events it’s proper to make it.”
“But, lieutenant——”
“No objections, Bertrand. Your conduct suggested mine, and my mind is made up. We leave Paris to-morrow.”
Bertrand saw that it was indeed useless for him to try to combat his master’s plan; he realized too that it was the only course that remained for them to take, for he could not long support his master with the twenty sous that he earned by tailoring. So that he set about making preparations for departure.
Auguste, who liked to carry out his plans promptly when he had determined upon them, effected a sale of his furniture during the day, and the proceeds, added to what cash he had left, made about six thousand francs.
“I should like to know,” he said to Bertrand, “if, with this amount of money, we can’t go to the ends of the world in search of fortune?”