I hope to touch
my hundred-franc pieces without being obliged to wash my hands
afterward. So, a very good evening to your establishment."
M. Fortunat was amazed, and at the same time much annoyed, to find
himself forsaken on account of such a trifle. He feared, too,
that Chupin might let his tongue wag if he left his employment.
So, since he had confided this project to Chupin, he was
determined that Chupin alone should carry it into execution.
Assuming his most severe and injured manner, he sternly exclaimed:
"I think you have lost your senses." His demeanor and intonation
were so perfectly cool that Chupin seemed slightly abashed. "It
seems that you think me capable of urging you to commit some
dangerous and dishonorable act," continued M. Fortunat.
"Why--no--m'sieur--I assure you "
There was such evident hesitation in the utterance of this "no"
that the agent at once resumed: "Come, you are not ignorant of the
fact that in addition to my business as a collector, I give my
attention to the discovery of the heirs of unclaimed estates? You
are aware of this? Very well then: pray tell me how I am to find
them without searching for them? If I wish this lady to be
watched, it is only in view of reaching a poor lad who is likely
to be defrauded of the wealth that rightfully belongs to him. And
when I give you a chance to make forty or fifty francs in a couple
of days, you receive my proposition in this style! You are an
ingrate and a fool, Victor!"
Chupin's nature combined, in a remarkable degree, the vices and
peculiarities of the dweller in the Paris faubourgs, who is born
old, but who, when aged in years, still remains a gamin.
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