"And you very wisely acceded to the proposal, Edwards? It was a golden gain to you."
"No doubt. In another fortnight the six months will have expired, and I become proprietor of the horses and carriages."
"Nothing plainer. The agreement was drawn up by M. Badinot, the vicomte's man of business, what do you want with my advice?"
"What should I do? To sell the horses and carriages in consequence of M. le Vicomte's departure? All would sell well, as he is known as one of the first judges in Paris; or ought I to set up as a horse-dealer with my stud, which would make a capital beginning? What is your opinion--your advice?"
"I advise you to do what I shall do myself."
"M. le Vicomte detests details. When I entered in his service I had, by savings and inheritance, sixty thousand francs (2,400_l._). I paid the expenses of the house as you did of the stables; and every year M. le Vicomte paid me without examining my account. At nearly the same time as yourself I found myself out of pocket about twenty thousand francs on my own account, and, to the tradespeople, sixty thousand francs. Then M. le Vicomte made me the same proposition as to yourself, in order to reimburse me. I was to sell the furniture of the house, including the plate, which is very handsome, very fine paintings, etc., the whole estimated at a hundred and forty thousand francs (5,600_l._). There were eighty thousand francs to pay, and there remained sixty thousand francs which I was to disburse until they were quite exhausted, in the expenses of the table, the servants' wages, etc., and in nothing else. These were the terms of the agreement."
"Because on that outlay you have a profit."
"As a matter of course; for I made all the agreements with the tradespeople, whom I shall not pay until after the sale," said Boyer, taking a huge pinch of snuff; "so that at the end of this month--"
"The furniture is yours, as the horses and carriages are mine."
"Precisely so. M. le Vicomte has gained by this, by living for the last few months as he likes to live, _en grand seigneur_,--and that in the very teeth of his creditors; for furniture, plate, horses, carriages, which had all been paid for ready money when he came of age, have now become the property of yourself and myself."