ou, Fleur-de-Marie: be gay, if
you really feel so; or sad, if sadness most suits your present state of
mind. I have my own hours of gloom and melancholy, and my sufferings
would be much increased were I compelled to feign a lightness of heart I
did not really possess."

"Can it be possible, M. Rodolph, that you are ever sad?"

"Quite possible, my child, and true. Alas! the prospect before me is but
little brighter than your own. I, like you, am without friends or
parents; what would become of me if I were to fall ill and be unable to
earn my daily bread,--for I need scarcely tell you I live but from day
to day, and spend my money quite as fast as I obtain it?"

"Oh, but that is wrong, M. Rodolph,--very, very wrong!" said La
Goualeuse, in a tone of such deep and grave remonstrance as made him
smile. "You should always lay by something. Look at me: why, all my
troubles and misfortunes have happened because I did not save my money
more carefully. If once a person can get a hundred francs beforehand, he
need never fear falling into any one's power; generally, a difficulty
about money puts very evil thoughts into our head."

"All that is very wise and very sensible, my frugal little friend; but a
hundred francs!--that is a large sum; how could a man like myself ever
amass so much?"

"Why, M. Rodolph, it is really very easy, if you will but consider a
little. First of all, I think you said you could earn five francs a
day?"

"Yes, so I can, when I choose to work."

"Ah! but you should work, constantly and regularly; and yours is such a
pretty trade. To paint fans! how nice such work must be,--mere
amusement, quite a recreation! I cannot think why you should ever be
tired or dull. Indeed, M. Rodolph, I must tell you plainly I do not pity
you at all; and, besides, really you talk like a mere child when you say
you cannot save money out of such large earnings," added La Goualeuse,
in a sweet, but, for her, severe tone. "Why, a workman may live well
upon three francs a day; there remain forty sous; at the end of a month,
if you manage prudently, you will have saved sixty francs. Think of
that! There's a sum!--sixty francs in one month!"

"Oh, but one likes to show off sometimes, and to indulge in a little
idleness."

"There now, M. Rodolph, I declare you make me quite angry to hear you
talk so childishly! Pray let me advise you to be wiser."

"Come, then, my sage little monitress, I will be a good boy, and listen
to