"
"He can't treat you worse than he does now, at all events,"
replied the old gentleman. "Besides, a gloved cat has never
caught a mouse yet."
"He'll hate me."
"The man who wants his dog to love him, beats it; and, besides,
when the wine is drawn, one must drink it."
This singular logic seemed to decide her. She handed the letter
to Chupin, and drawing a franc from her pocket she offered it to
him. "This is for your trouble," she said.
He involuntarily held out his hand to take the money, but quickly
withdrew it, exclaiming: "No, thank you; keep it. I've been paid
already." And, thereupon, he left the shop.
Chupin's mother--his poor good mother, as he called her--would
certainly have felt proud and delighted at her son's
disinterestedness. That very morning, he had refused the ten
francs a day that M. Fortunat had offered him, and this evening he
declined the twenty sous proffered him by Madame Paul. This was
apparently a trifle, and yet in reality it was something
marvellous, unprecedented, on the part of this poor lad, who,
having neither trade nor profession, was obliged to earn his daily
bread through the medium of those chance opportunities which the
lower classes of Paris are continually seeking. As he returned to
the Rue de Flandres, he muttered: "Take twenty sous from that poor
creature, who hasn't had enough to satisfy her hunger for heaven
knows how long! That would be altogether unworthy of a man.
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