t be incombustible.

De la Brive
What are the terms of our copartnership?

Mercadet
You try to serve me in the desperate circumstances in which I am at
present, and I will make you a present of your forty-seven thousand,
two hundred and thirty-three francs, to say nothing of the centimes.
Between ourselves, I may say that only address is needed.

De la Brive
In the use of the pistol or the sword?

Mercadet
No one is to be killed; on the contrary--

De la Brive
That will suit me.

Mercadet
A man is to be brought to life again.

De la Brive
That doesn't suit me at all, my dear fellow. The legacy, the chest of
Harpagon, the little mule of Scapin and, indeed, all the farces which
have made us laugh on the ancient stage are not well received nowadays
in real life. The police have a way of getting mixed up with them, and
since the abolition of privileges, no one can administer a drubbing
with impunity.

Mercadet
Well, what do you think of five years in debtors' prison? Eh? What a
fate!

De la Brive
As a matter of fact, my decision must depend upon what you want me to
do to any one, for my honor so far is intact and is worth--

Mercadet
You must invest it well, for we shall have dire need of all that it is
worth. I want you to assist me in sitting at the table which the
Exchange always keeps spread, and we will gorge ourselves with the
good things there offered us, for you must admit that while those who
seek for millions have great difficulty in finding them, they are
never found by those who do not seek.

De la Brive
I think I can co-operate with you in this matter. You will return to
me my forty-seven thousand francs--

Mercadet
Yes, sir.

De la Brive
I am not required to be anything but be--very clever?

Mercadet
Nimble, but this nimbleness will be exercised, as the English say, on
the right side of the law.

De la Brive
What is it you propose?

Mercadet (giving him a paper)
Here are your written instructions. You are to represent something
like an uncle from America--in fact, my partner, who has just come
back from the West Indies.

De la Brive
I understand.

Mercadet
Go to the Champs-Elysees, secure a post-chaise that has been much
battered, have horses harnessed to it, and make your arrival here
wrapped in a great pelisse, your head enveloped in a huge cap, while
you shiver like a man who finds our summer icy cold. I will receive
you; I will conduct you in; you will speak to my cr