"Done!... But this time it must be a struggle to death." "To death!" "Your five napoleons must be staked." "You know I never play for money, and as for my five napoleons, they already have their vocation." "Well, well, well, adieu." "_Au revoir._" And I left Cartier, with this engagement booked. We shall see where it led me. When I re-entered the house, I found Bamps, who was beginning to grow impatient. The first coach for Paris passed through Villers-Cotterets at eight o'clock in the evening: it was now seven. "Ah! goot!" he said, "there you are!... I did not regon I should zee you again." "What!" I said, imitating his jargon, "you did not regon you should zee me again?" Wondrous power of money! I was mocking Bamps, who, an hour before, had made me tremble with fear. Bamps knit his eyebrows. "We zay, den?" he said. "We say that I owe you twenty francs per month--that two months have gone by without payment--and that, consequently, I owe you forty francs." "You owe me vorty vrancs." "All right, my dear Bamps--here you are!" And I threw two napoleons on the table, taking care to let the three others in the palm of my hand be visible. My poor mother looked at me with the most profound amazement. I reassured her with a sign. The sign allayed her fears, but not her surprise. Bamps examined the two napoleons, rubbed them to make sure they were not false, and rolled them, one after the other, into his pocket. "You do not vant any more dings?" he asked. "No, thank you, my dear Monsieur. Besides, I am expecting to leave here for Paris in a short time." "You will bear in mind that I have the first claim on your custom?" "All right, my dear Bamps, for good and all! But if you mean to start at eight o'clock ...?" "If I mean to stard--! I should just tink so!" "Well, then, there is no time to lose." "The Tevil!" "You know where the coach stops?" "Yess." "Very well, _bon voyage_." "Atieu! Monsir Toumas! Atieu, Matame Toumas!... Atieu! atieu!" And Bamps, delighted, not only at having secured forty francs, but still further at being somewhat reassured about the rest of his account, set off, wafting us his parting benedictions, with all the speed his little legs could make. My mother just waited till she had closed both doors, then she said-- "But where did you get that money, you young rogue?" "I sold Pyramus, mother." "For how much?" "A hundred francs." "So that there are sixty francs left?" "At your service, dear mother." "I am afraid I must take them. I have two hundred francs to pay to-morrow to the warehouseman, and I only have a hundred and fifty towards it." "Here they are ... but on one condition." "What is it?" "That you let me have them back again as soon as I set off for Paris." "With whom are you going?" "That must be my business." "Well, so be it.... I really begin to feel as though God were with you."