“Alas! Monsieur Flamaran, who is there that I can send on such a mission for me? You know that I am an orphan.”
“But you have an uncle.”
“We have quarrelled.”
“You might make it up again, on an occasion like this.”
“Out of the question; we quarrelled on her account; my uncle hates Parisiennes.”
“Damn it all, then! send a friend—a friend will do under the circumstances.”
“There’s Lampron.”
“The painter?”
“Yes, but he doesn’t know Monsieur Charnot. It would only be one stranger pleading for another. My chances would be small. What I want—”
“Is a friend of both parties, isn’t it? Well, what am I?”