Part 23 (2/2)
”Let us speak of other matters,” said Ara on”
”Not over well”
”The deuce!”
”M de Mazarin was not hard enough”
”Yes, I see; you require a government full of suspicion-like that of the old cardinal, for instance”
”Yes; ray eovernor,” said Ara is orth an old cardinal Youth has its suspicions, its fits of anger, its prejudices, as old age has its hatreds, its precautions, and its fears Have you paid your three years' profits to Louvidre and Tremblay?”
”Most certainly I have”
”So that you have nothing ht with , then?”
”My lord, in giving the fifty thousand francs of ave the”
”Ah!” said Aramis, whose eyes sparkled for a moment, but became immediately afterwards as unmoved as before; ”so you have been to see nan; hoas he?”
”Wonderfully well”
”And what did you say to hiovernor, not perceiving his own thoughtlessness; ”I told him that I fed my prisoners too well”
”How many have you?” inquired Aramis, in an indifferent tone of voice
”Sixty”
”Well, that is a tolerably round nu certain years, as many as two hundred”
”Still a rumbled at”
”Perhaps not; for, to anybody butin two hundred and fifty pistoles; for instance, for a prince of the blood I have fifty francs a day”
”Only you have no prince of the blood; at least, I suppose so,” said Araht tremor in his voice
”No, thank heaven!-I mean, no, unfortunately”
”What do you mean by unfortunately?”
”Because my appointment would be improved by it So fifty francs per day for a prince of the blood, thirty-six for a marechal of France-”
”But you have as many marechals of France, I suppose, as you have princes of the blood?”
”Alas! no adiers pay twenty-six francs, and I have two of the me fifteen francs, and I have six of them”
”I did not know,” said Aramis, ”that councilors were so productive”
”Yes; but from fifteen francs I sink at once to ten francs; nae, and for an ecclesiastic”
”And you have seven, you say; an excellent affair”
”Nay, a bad one, and for this reason How can I possibly treat these poor felloho are of soood, at all events, otherwise than as a councilor of parliaht; I do not see five francs difference between them”
”You understand; if I have a fine fish, I pay four or five francs for it; if I get a fine fowl, it cost ood deal of poultry, but I have to buy grain, and you cannot iine the aret half a dozen cats to deal with theed to give up the idea because of the way in which they treated s sent s, unfortunately, have tremendous appetites; they eat asinto account the rabbits and fowls they kill”
Was Ara or not? No one could have told; his downcast eyes showed the attentive ht-Ara,” continued Baiseood-sized fowl costs me a franc and a half, and that a fine fish costs me four or five francs Threenothing to do, are always eating, a ten-franc man costs me seven francs and a half”
”But did you not say that you treated those at ten francs like those at fifteen?”
”Yes, certainly”
”Very well! Then you gain seven francs and a half upon those who pay you fifteen francs”
”I must compensate myself somehow,” said Baisemeaux, who sa he had been snapped up
”You are quite right, overnor; but have you no prisoners below ten francs?”
”Oh, yes! we have citizens and barristers at five francs”
”And do they eat, too?”
”Not a doubt about it; only you understand that they do not get fish or poultry, nor rich wines at every ood dish at their dinner”
”Really, you are quite a philanthropist, overnor, and you will ruin yourself”
”No; understand me; when the fifteen-franc has not eaten his fowl, or the ten-franc has left his dish unfinished, I send it to the five-franc prisoner; it is a feast for the poor devil, and one must be charitable, you know”
”And what do you make out of your five-franc prisoners?”