_André_ [_embracing his father heartily_]--Oh, of course they make no difference, when it comes to _that_! _Count_--Your second impulse is a very good one; but you ought to have begun with it. All the same, I do not in the less ask pardon for the inconvenience that I have caused you, my boy. [_Takes some bank-notes from his pocket._] Here are your six thousand francs, and [_holding out the remainder of the notes to André_] since you need money, help yourself. _André_--Where in the world does that money come from? _Count_--Oh, it is some money that I have received. _André_--There was none coming to you from anywhere! _Count_--There is always something to come to one, if he looks around carefully. And now let us speak of serious things. _André_--Yes, by all means. Father, are you not disposed to settle down? _Count_--What do you mean by "settle down"? _André_--To save money, for one thing. _Count_--Save money! I should be charmed to do so; but I really do not see how we can do it. We certainly live as modestly as possible. This house belongs to us; we have only four saddle horses, four carriage horses, a couple of extra horses for evening service (we could not get along with less), two coachmen, two valets, two grooms, one cook. Why, we haven't even a housekeeper. _André_--No, we only want that! _Count_--We never receive any except masculine society; we certainly are not extravagant as to the table. Look at me here: I am breakfasting this minute on two eggs and a glass of water. It seems to me that with our fortune-- _André_--Our fortune? Would you like to know in what condition our fortune is? _Count_--You ought to know better than I, since it is you who have had the running of affairs since your majority. _André_--Well then, I _do_ know the expenses; and let me tell you that you have counted up only those that are part of our life in Paris, and you have not said a syllable of those that belong to our country one. _Count_--Those that belong to our country one! Those are all just so much economy. _André_--So then the place at Vilsac is just so much economy? _Count_--Of course. We get everything from it, from eggs up to oxen. _André_--Yes, and even to wild boars, when it suits you to shoot one. Now be so good as to consider the place at Vilsac, which you call a matter of economy. First of all, it brings us in absolutely nothing. _Count_--It never has brought us in anything. _André_--It is mortgaged for two hundred thousand francs. _Count_--That happened when I was young. _André_--Are you under the impression that there comes a time when mortgages wear themselves out? I wish they did. But I am afraid that you deceive yourself; and in the mean time, you are paying every year a mortgagor's interest. Furthermore, at Vilsac-- _Count_--Where, remember, we spend September, October, November, all of which is positively an economy--