e was beginning to take wing toward higher
social spheres; elegance was becoming a constant thought in his mind. He
appeared in a dress suit and varnished shoes, whereas his two associates
received him in frock-coats and muddy boots.

"Gentlemen," he said, "I think I am a little late, but that devil of a
Thuillier is the most intolerable of human beings about a pamphlet I am
concocting for him. I was unlucky enough to agree to correct the proofs
with him, and over every paragraph there's a fight. 'What I can't
understand,' he says, 'the public can't, either. I'm not a man of
letters, but I'm a practical man'; and that's the way we battle it, page
after page. I thought the sitting this afternoon would never end."

"How unreasonable you are, my dear fellow," said Dutocq; "when a man
wants to succeed he must have the courage to make sacrifices. Once
married, you can lift your head."

"Ah, yes!" said la Peyrade with a sigh, "I'll lift it; for since the day
you made me eat this bread of anguish I've become terribly sick of it."

"Cerizet," said Dutocq, "has a plan that will feed you more
succulently."

Nothing more was said at the moment, for justice had to be done to
the excellent fare ordered by Cerizet in honor of his coming lease. As
usually happens at dinners where affairs are likely to be discussed,
each man, with his mind full of them, took pains not to approach those
topics, fearing to compromise his advantages by seeming eager; the
conversation, therefore, continued for a long time on general subjects,
and it was not until the dessert was served that Cerizet brought himself
to ask la Peyrade what had been settled about the terms of his lease.

"Nothing, my friend," replied Theodose.

"What! nothing? I certainly allowed you time enough to decide the
matter."

"Well, as to that, something is decided. There will not be any principal
tenant at all; Mademoiselle Brigitte is going to let the house herself."

"That's a singular thing," said Cerizet, stiffly. "After your agreement
with me, I certainly did not expect such a result as this."

"How can I help it, my dear fellow? I agreed with you, barring
amendments on the other side; I wasn't able to give another turn to the
affair. In her natural character as a managing woman and a sample of
perpetual motion, Brigitte has reflected that she might as well manage
that house herself and put into her own pocket the profits you proposed
to make. I said all I could abou