"What a woman!" he exclaimed, when she had left
them. "A perfect queen! A man would willingly allow himself to be
chopped in pieces for her sake; and she's as good and as clever as
she's handsome. Did you notice, monsieur, that she did not offer
to pay me. She understood that I offered to work for her for my
own pleasure, for my own satisfaction and honor. Heavens! how I
should have chafed if she had offered me money. How provoked I
should have been!"
Chupin was so fascinated that he wished no reward for his toil!
This was so astonishing that M. Fortunat remained for a moment
speechless with surprise. "Have you gone mad, Victor?" he
inquired at last.
"Mad! I?--not at all; I'm only becoming----" He stopped short. He
was going to add: "an honest man." But it is scarcely proper to
talk about the rope in the hangman's house, and there are certain
words which should never be pronounced in the presence of certain
people. Chupin knew this, and so he quickly resumed: "When I
become rich, when I'm a great banker, and have a host of clerks
who spend their time in counting my gold behind a grating, I
should like to have a wife of my own like that. But I must be off
about my business now, so till we meet again, monsieur."
The foregoing conversation will explain how it happened that
Madame Leon chanced to surprise her dear young lady in close
conversation with a vagabond clad in a blouse.
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