LITMIR.BIZ

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as fencing, riding, and gymnastics; but he had the greatest aversion for serious work of every sort, and when his parents asked him: "Do you want to be a lawyer, a doctor, a man of letters, a broker, or a general?" Arthur replied: "I prefer to walk on the boulevards and smoke big eight-sou cigars."

      This reply, which left nothing to be desired in the way of frankness, indicated a most generous inclination to consume the fortune which his parents had so laboriously amassed in business, and which, in fact, they left to their beloved son without undue delay. At the age of twenty-two, Arthur, who had as yet done nothing else than promenade and smoke, found himself an orphan and possessed of thirty-five thousand francs a year.

      Thereupon, he abandoned himself to his taste for pleasure, augmented by a very keen penchant for the fair sex; and the fair sex is never ungrateful to a rich and open-handed man. Arthur was not handsome: his crooked nose, his small eyes, and his pointed chin, did not tend to make him a very attractive youth; however, the women told him again and again that he was charming, adorable, irresistible, and he believed it. We are so ready to believe anything that flatters our self-esteem! And yet, Arthur was no fool; indeed, he had his share of wit; but he was totally lacking in common sense, and without common sense, wit, as a general rule, serves no other purpose than to make one do foolish things. La Rochefoucauld makes this reflection with respect to women; for my part, I consider it perfectly applicable to both sexes.

      At thirty years, Beau Cherami had spent, consumed, swallowed, his entire inheritance. But he had been noted for his costumes, his horses, his conquests, his love affairs. Eight years to run through a fortune worth thirty-five thousand francs a year—that is not such a very rapid pace; we often see young men who use up three times as much in much less time; to be sure, young Arthur did not gamble on the Bourse.

      Being obliged then to sell his furniture, horses, and silverware, Cherami lived some time longer on the product of the sale; but his friends already began to find him less clever and amiable, and the women no longer called him their handsome Arthur. That was because he could no longer make them beautiful presents; and instead of loaning money to his friends and paying their shares of the expense of an orgy, he asked them to pay for him, and often applied to them for loans.

      At thirty-five, Arthur was what these good friends of his called utterly dégommé: in other words, ruined. After he had lived for some time on credit, his tailor, his shirtmaker, his bootmaker, refused to trust him any more; whereupon he was obliged to wear garments that were worn and faded, and eventually threadbare; hats that had turned from black to rusty; worn boots that were rarely polished. When Cherami, in this garb, said to one of his former acquaintances: "I have left my purse at home; lend me twenty francs, will you?" the acquaintance would make a wry face and loan him five francs instead of twenty, and sometimes nothing at all; for a man in a threadbare coat does not inspire confidence. We loan money to the rich, because we think that they will return it.

      After some time, Beau Arthur found that this last source of income was exhausted. He had said so often to his quondam friends: "I have forgotten my purse," or: "I have just discovered that there's a hole in my pocket," that they fled as soon as they saw him; many of them even ceased to return his bow, and pretended not to know him. Misfortune is the reef on which friendship is wrecked.

      However, Cherami still possessed a remnant of his handsome fortune; a very small remnant, but enough to keep him from starving; and chance had decreed that the ci-devant beau could not dispose of it, otherwise he would not have failed to make away with it like the rest.

VII

       THE COAL DEALER

       Table of Contents

      The father of our spendthrift had, shortly before his death, obliged one of his employés by loaning him eleven thousand francs to start in the coal business. And the creditor, knowing his debtor's probity, had made the loan subject to no other condition than this: "You will pay my son the interest on this sum at five per cent. That makes five hundred and fifty francs a year that you will have to pay him so long as it doesn't inconvenience you; and, in any event, not more than ten years. After that time, your debt will be paid. But it must be understood that I forbid you ever to repay the principal."

      These conditions were witnessed by no written contract; the merchant had declined to take his debtor's note. But the latter had faithfully carried out his former employer's intentions. Every three months, he brought Arthur one hundred and thirty-seven francs fifty centimes, the stipulated interest of the money he had received. In his prosperous days, when he still had an income of thirty-five thousand francs, young Arthur had often said to Bernardin—that was the coal dealer's name:

      "What the devil do you expect me to do with your hundred and thirty-seven francs, Bernardin? As if I cared for such a trifle! Go and have a good fish dinner at La Râpée—with some pretty wench. That will be much better. I consider that you've paid up."

      But the coal dealer, an upright, economical man, scrupulously exact in all his dealings, always contented himself with replying:

      "I owe you this money, monsieur; it's the interest on what your late father was kind enough to give me. I say give, because my late excellent master would not even let me pay him the interest."

      "I know all that, Bernardin; I know all that; but, you see, I don't ask you for the interest either. You are welcome to keep it; buy bonbons for your children with it."

      "My children have all they need, monsieur; and I make it a point to fulfil my engagements."

      "There is no real obligation in this case, as I have no note, no receipt, from you."

      "Between honest men there's no need of any writing, monsieur. I offered your father a note, and he positively refused; just as he forbade me ever to repay the principal on which I pay you the interest."

      "And you are to pay the interest only ten years; I know that too."

      "Oh! as to that, monsieur, I made your father no answer when he added that condition; but I shall do my duty."

      And the honest coal dealer took his departure, leaving with Arthur the small sum he had brought.

      When the thirty-five thousand francs a year had disappeared, and Arthur was reduced to the necessity of turning his furniture into cash, he received less scornfully the hundred and thirty-seven francs fifty centimes which Bernardin never failed to bring him on the first of each of the months when rent falls due.

      One day, Cherami, having no more furniture, jewels, or horses to sell, had taken a furnished lodging, when Bernardin brought him his quarterly interest. The faithful coal dealer was informed as to the conduct of his former employer's son; he had watched the young man squander in riotous living the fortune which his parents had amassed with such unremitting toil; sell the house they had left him; then move from a fine hôtel to a more modest apartment, and finally to furnished lodgings. Bernardin had never ventured to make the slightest comment; but at each new downward plunge of the young man, he heaved a profound sigh, and said to himself:

      "O my poor master! it's very fortunate that you do not see your son's conduct!"

      Now, on the day in question, Arthur, being absolutely penniless, was overjoyed when his paltry income arrived; but as Bernardin, having paid the money, was about to leave him, he detained him, saying:

      "Look you, Monsieur Bernardin, I have a proposition to make to you."

      "I am listening, monsieur."

      "You bring me regularly the interest on the eleven thousand francs which you received from my father; you would be perfectly justified, however, in ceasing to pay it; for more than ten years have passed, and——"

      "I think I have told you, monsieur, that I should continue to pay it; I should not consider that I had paid my debt, otherwise."

      "Very good! Far be it from me to blame such scrupulous probity; but I am going to propose to you a method of paying your debt once for all.

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