ur. So there never were any disputes
between them?"

"Never, oh, never! Sunday, Monday, and sometimes on Tuesday, they made
holiday, or kept wedding-day, as they called it, and always took me with
them. Papa Cretu was an excellent workman, and, when he chose to work,
he could earn what he pleased, and so could his wife, too. If they had
got enough to do for Sunday and Monday, and live on pretty comfortably,
they were perfectly satisfied. If, after this, they were on short
allowance for a time, they didn't mind it. I remember, when we had only
bread and water, Papa Cretu took from his library--"

"He had a library, then?"

"Oh, he used to call a little box so, in which he put his collection of
new songs; for he bought all the new ones, and knew them every one.
When, then, there was nothing but bread in the house, he used to take an
old cookery book from his library, and say to us, 'Well, now, let us
see, what shall we eat to-day? This, or that?' And then he used to read
out a long list of good things. Each of us chose a dish, and then Papa
Cretu took an empty saucepan, and, with the funniest airs and gestures
in the world, pretended to put into the saucepan all the ingredients
requisite for making a capital stew; and then he used to pretend to pour
it all out into a dish--also empty--which he placed on the table, with
still the same drolleries, which almost split our sides. Then he took up
his book again, and, whilst he was reading to us, for instance, the
recipe of a good fricassee of chicken, which we had chosen, and which
made our mouths water, we ate our bread, all laughing like so many mad
people."

"And, in this happy household, were there any debts to trouble them?"

"None whatever. So long as the money lasted, they ate, drank, and made
merry, and, when it was all gone, they lived upon 'make believe,' as
before."

"And did they never think of the future?"

"Oh, yes, they thought of it, of course; but what is the future to such
as we? Present and future are like Sunday and Monday; the one we spend
gaily and happily outside the barriers, the other is got over in the
faubourgs."

"And why, since this couple seemed so well assorted, did they never
marry?"

"A friend of theirs once put that very question in my presence."

"Well, and what did they say?"

"'Oh,' said they, 'if ever we have any children, it may be all very well
to marry, but as far as we are concerned, we do very well as we are. And
why sho