"'I am sorrier for it than you are, cousin, but a little patience and all will go well.'
"Tranquille did not dare say that Eloi could not be distressed for the hundred and twenty crowns, their agreement having been, that he should repay only a portion at the beginning of the season, and the remainder at its conclusion.
"'And when will you pay me?'
"'Well, cousin, at the end of the season.'
"'The two halves shall be paid together,' added Pélagie, bolder than her husband.
"'It is to-day the money would be useful to me; I miss an affair on which I should gain fifty crowns! It is very hard to have obliged people, and to find one's-self in difficulty in consequence. I am so much in want of money, Risquetout, that if you give me two hundred francs, I will return you these two bills of sixty crowns each.'
"'You know very well I have no money, Eloi.'
"'Never mind, it shows you what sacrifices I would make to-day, to receive what you owe me.'
"Again no one dared tell the miller that he was not very sincere when he offered to sacrifice a hundred and sixty francs to obtain payment of a sum which would enable him, he said, to gain a hundred and fifty.
"'What is to be done?' said he.