"But why would you not come to Paris, where you might have lived as
cheaply as you do here, but where you would have been better lodged?"

"Why," replied the Colonel, "the good folks with whom I am living had
taken me in and fed me /gratis/ for a year. How could I leave them
just when I had a little money? Besides, the father of those three
pickles is an old /Egyptian/--"

"An Egyptian!"

"We give that name to the troopers who came back from the expedition
into Egypt, of which I was one. Not merely are all who get back
brothers; Vergniaud was in my regiment. We have shared a draught of
water in the desert; and besides, I have not yet finished teaching his
brats to read."

"He might have lodged you better for your money," said Derville.

"Bah!" said the Colonel, "his children sleep on the straw as I do. He
and his wife have no better bed; they are very poor you see. They have
taken a bigger business than they can manage. But if I recover my
fortune . . . However, it does very well."

"Colonel, to-morrow or the next day, I shall receive your papers from
Heilsberg. The woman who dug you out is still alive!"

"Curse the money! To think I haven't got any!" he cried, flinging his
pipe on the ground.