"Hush!" exclaimed the carpenter, proudly, "lazy yourself! Jean was never lazy, and he won't begin at sixty. But I'll tell you, I have an idea that induces me to take your work. I have an idea of building myself a little house. As they've sold mine, I prefer to have a new one, built by myself alone, to suit my taste, my fancy. That's why I want at least one day a week." "That is something I will not allow," replied the manufacturer stiffly. "You will have no house, you will have no tools of your own, you will sleep under my roof, you will eat under my roof, you will use no tools but mine, you----" "That's quite enough to show me that I shall be your property and your slave. Thanks, monsieur, the bargain's off." And he walked toward the door. Emile considered his father's terms very hard; but Jean's plight would become still harder if he refused them. So he tried to bring about a compromise. "Good Jean," he said, retaining him, "reflect, I implore you. Two years are soon passed, and with the little savings you will be able to make in that time, especially," he added, looking at Monsieur Cardonnet with an expression that was at once imploring and firm, "as my father will keep you in addition to the wages agreed upon----" "Really?" said Jean, shaken once more. "Granted," said Monsieur Cardonnet. "Well, Jean, your clothes are a small matter, and my mother and I will take pleasure in replenishing your wardrobe. At the end of two years, therefore, you will have a thousand francs net; that is enough to build a bachelor's house for your own use, as you are a bachelor." "A widower, monsieur," sighed Jean, "and a son killed in the field." "Whereas, if you use up your salary every week," said the elder Cardonnet, unmoved, "you will waste it, and at the end of the year you will have built nothing and saved nothing." "You take too much interest in me; what difference does that make to you?" "It makes this difference, that my work, being constantly interrupted, will progress slowly, that I shall never have you at hand, and that, two years hence, when you come and offer to work longer for me, I shall not need you any longer. I shall have been compelled to give your place to some one else." "There will always be work to be done keeping the plant in order. Do you think I mean to cheat you out of your money?" "No, but I should prefer being cheated to being delayed." "Ah! what a hurry you are in to enjoy your prosperity! Well! give me one day a week and let me have my own tools." "He seems to think a great deal of this day of freedom, father," said Emile; "let him have it." "I will let him have Sunday." "And I accept it only as a day of rest," said Jean, indignantly; "do you take me for a pagan? I don't work on Sunday, monsieur; that would bring me ill-luck, and I should do bad work for both you and myself." "Well, my father will give you Monday----"