"Oh! I am well aware that you haven't any, my poor girl! I know that you and Elina deprive yourselves of everything in order to take care of me." "No, no--nonsense! The druggist gives me the medicines for nothing." "Listen. To-morrow morning, early, you must go to my room--the key is in the pocket of my jacket. It's on Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, No. 10. Go up to the fifth floor, the door on the left. There you will find sixty francs in the table drawer." "Ah! what luck!" "Wait a moment: you are to take that money, also a frock-coat, a pair of black trousers, and a black waistcoat, which you will find in a small wardrobe. They are all in good condition, almost new, I wear them so seldom. However, if you think they are not enough, take all the linen you can find--four shirts, some sheets----" "Mon Dieu! what am I to do with all those things?" "Take them to the Mont-de-Piété, and get forty francs on them, which you will put with the sixty; for to-morrow,--yes, to-morrow, the twenty-fifth,--you must carry a hundred francs to Madame Desroches. You must do it, do you hear?" "Noble young man! What! you mean to go on doing without everything, to----" "Hush, Bastringuette! you must carry that sum to-morrow to the widow of my benefactor. If that isn't done, I feel that I shall never get well." "Oh! in that case, I'll go. Never you fear! I'll do everything you've told me, and she shall have the money to-morrow. But suppose your concierge won't let me carry the things away?" "There isn't any concierge." "In that case, it will soon be fixed up." "Good! I thank you, Bastringuette. And you won't mention this to Elina?" "Oh! dear me, no! as long as you don't want her to know your good deeds." "I am simply doing my duty. If only heaven will permit me to finish what I have undertaken! I was so happy to think that, in a few months more---- However, you'll go to-morrow, won't you, Bastringuette?--By the way, one word more: Madame Desroches will ask you, no doubt, why I haven't been to see her for so long a time, and why I have sent you with the money. You must tell her that I sent you because I had to leave Paris, to go on a short journey for the house in which I am employed. Don't forget that." "No, I won't forget anything." Paul slept more quietly, thinking that the person whose self-constituted protector he was would not have to suffer by reason of the misfortune that had befallen him. That night his sleep refreshed him, and when he woke he saw Elina's pretty face leaning over him, and, in the background, Bastringuette, whose eyes seemed to express a wish to speak to him. "Oh! what joy!" cried Elina; "you have slept till much later to-day. It's almost eleven o'clock. Luckily, I had a dress to deliver, so I was able to come back." "And I feel much better," said Paul. Bastringuette seized the opportunity, when she was giving the invalid his draught, to whisper in his ear: "Your errand is done. She has the hundred francs."