Marius occupied at No. 50-52, for the annual rent of thirty francs, a
garret without a fire-place, which was called a "cabinet," and only
contained the indispensable articles of furniture, and this furniture
was his own. He paid three francs a month to the old principal lodger
for sweeping out his room, and bringing him every morning a little
hot water, a new-laid egg, and a sou roll. On this roll and egg he
breakfasted, and the outlay varied from two to four sous, according as
eggs were dear or cheap. At six in the evening he went to the line St.
Jacques to dine at Rousseau's, exactly opposite Bassets, the print-shop
at the corner of the Rue des Mathurins. He did not eat soup, but he
ordered a plate of meat for six sous, half a plate of vegetables for
three sous, and dessert three sous. For three sous he had as much
bread as he liked, and for wine he drank water. On paying at the bar,
where Madame Rousseau, at that period a fat and good-looking dame,
was majestically enthroned, he gave a sou for the waiter and Madame
Rousseau gave him a smile. Then he went away; for sixteen sous he had
a smile and a dinner. This Rousseau restaurant, where so few bottles
and so many water-jugs were emptied, was rather a sedative than a
restorer. It no longer exists, but the master used to have a wonderful
nickname,--he was called Rousseau the aquatic.
Thus, with breakfast four sous, dinner sixteen, his food cost him three
hundred and sixty-five francs a year. Add thirty francs for rent and
the thirty-six francs for the old woman, and a few minor expenses,
and for four hundred and fifty francs Marius was boarded, lodged, and
served. His clothes cost him a hundred francs, his linen fifty, his
washing fifty, but the whole did not exceed six hundred and fifty
francs. He had fifty left, and was rich: at times he would lend ten
francs to a friend, and Courfeyrac once actually borrowed sixty francs
of him. As for heating, as Marius had no chimney, he "simplified" it.
Marius always had two complete suits; one old, for every-day wear,
and the other new, for occasions, and both were black. He had but
three shirts,--one on, one in the drawer, and one at the wash,--and he
renewed them as they became worn out. As they were usually torn, he had
a fashion of buttoning up his coat to the chin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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