"But with thirty sous a day, how can you manage to live?" "The reckoning is not difficult; shall I explain it to you, neighbor? You appear rather extravagant, so it may serve you as an example." "Let's hear it." "Thirty sous a day will make forty-five francs a month, will it not?" "Yes." "Well, then, by that account I have twelve francs for lodging, and twenty-three francs for living." "Twenty-three francs for a month's living!" "Yes, quite as much. I acknowledge that, for a person like myself, it is enormous; but then, you see, I refuse myself nothing." "Oh, you little glutton!" "Ah, but I also include food for my birds." "Certainly, if you reckon for three, it is less extravagant. But let me hear the detail of your every-day management, that I may benefit by the instruction." "Listen then. A pound of bread, that is four sous; milk, two sous-- that makes six; four sous for vegetables in winter, or fruit and salad in summer (I dote on salad and vegetables, because they do not soil the hands)--there is already ten sous; three sous for butter or oil and vinegar, as seasoning--thirteen sous; two pailfuls of water (oh, that is my luxury!) that will make fifteen sous; add to that two sous for chickweed and hempseed for my two birds, which usually share with me my bread and milk--that is twenty-two or twenty-three francs a month, neither more nor less." "And do you never eat meat?" "Oh, Lord! Meat indeed! that costs ten to twelve sous a pound; how can I think of that? Besides, it smells of the kitchen, of the stewpan; instead of which, milk, fruit, and vegetables require no cooking. I will tell you a dish I am very fond of, not troublesome, and which I make to perfection." "Hold up the dish!" "I put fine potatoes in the oven of my stove; when they are done, I mash them with a little butter and milk, and a pinch of salt. It is a meal for the gods! If you are well behaved I will let you taste them some day." "Prepared by your pretty hands, it cannot fail to be excellent. But let us see neighbor; we have already reckoned twenty-three francs for living, and twelve francs for lodging--that makes thirty-five francs a month." "Well, then, out of the forty-five or fifty francs I earn, there remain to me ten or fifteen francs for wood and oil during winter, as well as for my dress and washing--that is to say for soap--as, excepting my sheets, I wash for myself: that is another luxury--a laundress would pretty well ruin me; and as I also iron very well, I thereby save my money. During the five winter months I burn a load and a half of wood, and four or five sous-worth of oil in the day for my lamp; that makes nearly eighteen francs a year for my light and fire." "So that there remain to you more than a hundred francs for your clothing?" "Yes; and it is from that I have saved the three francs and a half." "But your dresses--your shoes and stockings--this pretty cap?"