Part 24 (2/2)
Several days after the conversation he had had with his wife, Edouard returned home with a triumphant air; his face was radiant, his eyes gleamed with pleasure.
”What's the matter, son-in-law, what has happened to you?” said Mamma Germeuil; ”you seem very happy.”
”In truth, I am, and I have good reason to be.”
”Of course you will let us share your joy, my dear.”
”Yes, mesdames, you will cease now, I hope, to say that I delude myself with chimeras; by the luckiest chance I have recently become acquainted with a rich foreigner, who proposes to settle in France. He was looking for a large, pleasant house, all furnished, in one of the best quarters of the city; I found one for him; he looked at it, was delighted with it, bought it, and gives me six thousand francs for my trouble; and the seller gives me as much more for my commission. Well! isn't that rather pleasant? Twelve thousand francs earned in a moment.”
”True, son-in-law, but you have been running about for three months to reach that moment!”
”Twelve thousand francs! That is well worth taking a little trouble for!”
”That is true, but such affairs must be rare.”
”I shall find others.”
”They will not all be so fortunate.”
”Oh! if a man earned twelve thousand francs every day, he would be too lucky.”
”In this matter, you do not seem to have needed Dufresne's a.s.sistance?”
”Oh! he will put me in the way of more profitable ones yet. But in order to do a good business, I must have an office. You must understand that when my clients come to see me, I can't receive them in a salon or a bedroom. I must have an office well stocked with boxes. That makes an impression; and as it is impossible to have a suitable place here, we must move.”
”What! do you mean to leave these lodgings, son-in-law?”
”Ah! my dear! this is where our hands were united by mamma. It was here that Hymen fulfilled our wishes, and I have been so happy here!”
”My dear love, one is happy anywhere when one is rich. We will take a much handsomer apartment. This salon is too small.”
”It is large enough to receive our friends.”
”Yes, but friends are not the only ones to be received; we have acquaintances too.”
”Son-in-law, don't you think that you are undertaking an establishment beyond your means?”
”Madame, I wish to make my fortune; that is a very praiseworthy ambition, it seems to me; why should I not try what thousands of others have tried successfully? Have I less merit, less talents than my predecessors? I propose to prove the contrary to your satisfaction. Who is this manufacturer, whose name is in every mouth, whose wealth is immense and his credit unlimited? He came to Paris without a sou; he simply knew how to write and make figures; he entered, as a petty clerk, the establishment of which to-day he is the owner; but he was ambitious, he worked hard, and everything succeeded with him. This financier, who is engaged in such enormous operations on the Bourse, arrived from his village, asking hospitality at the taverns along the road, sleeping on straw, and eating nothing but bread, lucky when he had enough of that to satisfy his appet.i.te. He stopped at Paris on Place du Peron, hesitating whether he should ask alms or should jump into the river. A tradesman happened to notice him and gave him a letter to carry; the promptness and zeal which he displayed in doing the errand interested people in his favor. Every one selected him for his messenger; he soon succeeded in saving some money, and speculated on his own account; the movement of stocks was favorable to him; and to make a long story short, he has become a millionaire. I could cite you a hundred similar examples; and since one may become something from nothing, it seems to me that it is much easier to become rich when one already has something in hand.”
”When one has nothing, son-in-law, one does not risk ruining oneself.”
”Oh! only the fools ruin themselves, madame!”
”It is better to be a fool than a knave, and many people have made their fortunes only at the expense of those of other people.”
”I trust, madame, that you do not consider me capable of enriching myself in that way?”
”No, of course not! But before everything else one should be orderly and economical. By this means the financier and manufacturer whom you mentioned just now have grown rich, and not by giving extravagant receptions and b.a.l.l.s.”
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