"Entirely, my dear friend, entirely; I have no memory except for important things, and a hundred louis, you will agree, is the merest bagatelle. Send to my house." "They could not give me your address at your former residence." "True, I am on the wing. I will send the money to you--that will be the better way. But they are waiting for me; the turkey is probably served. It's a party of gentlemen only, and I promised to be prompt. I am very particular about keeping my word." "I can rely, then, upon----" "Yes, you shall hear from me to-morrow at the latest. Adieu; pardon me for leaving you so abruptly, but a truffled turkey admits of no postponement." And Monsieur de Cligneval, who was in truth very particular about keeping his word when a dinner or luncheon was concerned, shook off his creditor and escaped from the salon. But as he was by no means anxious to meet Dalville frequently at his friend La Thomassinière's, monsieur le marquis, when he reached the reception-room, told a servant to go to his master and tell him privately that Monsieur de Cligneval had something to impart to him in confidence. The servant did the errand and La Thomassinière hastily left the salon and joined the marquis, whose obsequious servant he deemed himself very fortunate to be. "What is it, my dear marquis? I am at your service," cried the parvenu. "Sh! let us go into your study, my friend. Dalville thinks that I have gone, and I don't want him to meet me when he goes away." They went into Monsieur de la Thomassinière's study, and there the marquis seemed to hesitate, as if he did not know whether he ought to speak. "I am dreadfully perplexed," he said at last to La Thomassinière, who was waiting humbly to hear what he had to tell him. "Perplexed!--you! Is it possible that a marquis can ever be perplexed? Nonsense, you are joking!" "No, my friend, no. Mon Dieu! because one happens to have been born in an exalted sphere, because one enjoys some consideration and has some little power, do you suppose that one is not human just the same, and subject to all the weaknesses that nature has allotted to us?" "Surely not, monsieur le marquis! and----" "Bless my soul! we are all very much alike! In the eyes of men of intelligence what does a little more or a little less nobility amount to?--For my own part, I give you my word that, if you were a duke, I should esteem you no more highly!" "You are too kind, monsieur le marquis!" "No, I am frank, that's all." La Thomassinière was wondering how this discussion would take the marquis to the truffled turkey that awaited him, when Monsieur de Cligneval resumed: "It was about Dalville that I wanted to speak to you in private. That young man allowed himself to be taken in like an idiot." "Like an absolute idiot, monsieur le marquis." "And he was so conceited, so self-sufficient! He wouldn't take anybody's advice; he thought that he knew how to manage his business. It was a pitiable thing!"