“What ideas you do have!” said the Countess.
“I have always thought that the first thing to do was to get rich.”
“Why not work?”
“One can never make one’s self rich by working. I have two aphorisms that rule my life; they are: first, be it yours or another’s, you will never get on without money; second, laziness has always its reward, and work its punishment.”
“You are a faker, and one cannot talk to you,” said the Countess. “What about you, Pacheco?”
“He? Why, he’s another romanticist,” replied Quentin.
“Really?” asked the woman.
“Yes, somewhat,” replied the bandit with a sigh.
“Some fine day,” added Quentin, “you will hear that Pacheco has done something either very foolish, or very heroic.”
“May God hear you,” murmured the bandit.