He burst out laughing.

"Are you not afraid that they will cheat me?" he said,--"people ten
times as rich as we are. Here, don't let us speak of it any more,
and let us go to bed. You'll see what this dinner will bring us, and
whether I ever have reason to regret the money we have spent."



VIII

When, on the morning after this dinner, which was to form an era in
her life, Mme. Favoral woke up, her husband was already up, pencil
in hand, and busy figuring.

The charm had vanished with the fumes of the champagne; and the
clouds of the worst days were gathering upon his brow.

Noticing that his wife was looking at him,

"It's expensive work," he said in a bluff tone, "to set a business
going; and it wouldn't do to commence over again every day."

To hear him speak, one would have thought that Mme. Favoral alone,
by dint of hard begging, had persuaded him into that expense which
he now seemed to regret so much. She quietly called his attention
to the fact, reminding him that, far from urging, she had endeavored
to hold him back; repeating that she augured ill of that business
over which he was so enthusiastic, and that, if he would believe her,
he would not venture.