human
You are always so obliging, Monsieur Paul, that I thought of you for--listen, it is this: I live with my aunt, Madame Vardeine, who has taken care of me since my parents died; she says that I owe her a great deal of money, although my father left me a little something--fifteen thousand francs, I believe; that isn't a fortune, but still it's enough to live on, and one can be very comfortable with that, if one has a trade too; isn't that so?
gpt
Yes, mademoiselle; with orderly habits and hard work, one may become rich with that amount of money.
human
Do you really think so? It must be very nice to be rich! Well, as I was saying, my aunt is forever telling me that she does everything for me, that I cost her a great deal, that I spend much more than my money brings in--for she is my guardian. But, oh! Monsieur Paul, if you knew what she gives me for my breakfast and dinner, you would say that it was none too much! Luckily, I'm not a glutton, whatever she may say. Ten sous for breakfast and dinner--can one be a glutton with that?
gpt
No, indeed, mademoiselle. But it is very wrong of your aunt to give you so little for your food. Your money must certainly bring in seven hundred francs a year--which would give you about thirty-nine sous a day to spend. So if she gives you only ten sous for your board, she keeps twenty-nine for your lodging.
human
Oh! I think you must be mistaken, Monsieur Paul; my aunt says that my money brings in barely twenty sous a day,--that's a long way from thirty-nine,--and that she has to use some of her own to clothe me.
gpt
I am not mistaken, mademoiselle. I know how to reckon, for I haven't always been a messenger. For eight years, I was employed in a merchant's office, and I worked over figures and accounts all day.
human
Really, Monsieur Paul? Ah! I thought---- You don't look like a messenger--like the others. You talk well, and you don't swear. Were you obliged to take up this business?
gpt
Yes, mademoiselle; my benefactor died, and I had not a sou. As I couldn't find a place, I thought it was better to be a messenger than to idle away my time and live, as so many do, at others' expense.
human
You are quite right. After all, there is nothing despicable in being a messenger; you're not a servant, as the girls in our workroom are so fond of calling you. Oh! they say that to make me furious, because I always stand up for you.
gpt
Stand up for me? You say that you sometimes talk about me in your workroom?
human
Oh!--that is to say--we talk about messengers in general--and as we have employed you several times---- But I stand chattering here, when I came down to buy something at the linen draper's, and I haven't told you yet what I wanted to ask you. My aunt says that I talk too much. As far as that goes, perhaps she is right; it's such fun to talk--not with everybody, of course, but with people who--listen to you--and--that is to say---- Mon Dieu! it seems to me that I am getting all mixed up, and don't know what I am saying.