"And your hat too, if you insist upon it; but, as the one you have now is newer, you would lose again by the change. But the cane is certainly yours; do you consider me capable of keeping something that doesn't belong to me,--that is in my possession only as the result of a mistake?" "Ah! monsieur, I am sensible----" "You understand, of course, that before returning this cane, which I carried away by mistake from my friend Blanquette's party, I wished to be sure of returning it to its owner and no one else. Have you my switch?" "No, monsieur; I haven't it--I don't even know what has become of it." "Bigre! I am very sorry for that. You thought, I suppose, that it was just a common switch; you didn't see that it was a _nerf de boeuf_, which came from China, where they make a great many canes of that material, because it bends and never breaks. You value it at six sous, but it was worth forty francs." "Oh! if I had known that----" "You'd have taken more care of it. However, that's a trifling mishap. You pay for what I have eaten, and we will dine together; then we shall be quits." "What, monsieur, you propose----" "Pray take your cane; it's a fascinating thing! Everybody stared at it. Dear Courbichon! I am delighted to have returned it to you; but I greatly regret my Chinese switch! Such is very rare in Paris. Very few like it come here from China.--I say, waiter, how much do I owe?" "Seven francs fifty, monsieur." "Very good. Monsieur here will attend to it." Monsieur Courbichon did not seem overjoyed to pay for his neighbor's breakfast; however, he did it. They left the cafe together, and, when they were on the boulevard, Cherami passed his arm through that of the owner of the cane, saying: "Where shall we go now?" "Faith! monsieur, I had intended to go for a stroll on the Champs-Elysees. It's a fine day, and near the end of September; we must make the most of these last good days. And then, I am very fond of watching them play bowls." "Very good! that suits me--that suits me to the very tick: let us go to the Champs-Elysees, and see them play bowls. Walking helps the digestion; it gives one an appetite. We will dine there; I know all the good restaurants on the Champs-Elysees. Oh! never fear, Papa Courbichon, you are with a buck who knows what good living is!" "I don't doubt it, monsieur, but----" "Sapristi! what a pretty cane! everybody admires it as they pass. It must have cost a lot?" "I cannot tell you, monsieur; it's a present from my nephew." "Ah, indeed! I was just saying to myself, that it's a surprising thing that Monsieur Courbichon should have bought a cane like that. Your nephew's a man of taste. What does he do?" "He's in business. He has gone to America. This was his cane; he gave it to me, because, as he said, he was going to a country where there are plenty of canes, and it was useless for him to carry this one." "Do you mean that he carries a piece of sugar-cane in his hand when he goes out to walk?"