of things did not last. By the end of a couple of months the statue was
eaten up before it had been made, and the series of protests and writs
recommenced. Nowadays I am accustomed to them. But in the days when I
had just come from the country, the Auvergnats at the door, caused me a
painful impression. In the house, nobody paid attention to such things
any longer. It was known that at the last moment there would always
arrive a Monpavon, a Bois l'Hery, to pacify the bailiffs; for all those
gentlemen, being deeply implicated in the concern, have an interest in
avoiding a bankruptcy. That is the very circumstance which saves him,
our wily governor. The others run after their money--we know the meaning
which that expression has in gaming--and they would not like all the
stock on their hands to become worthless save to sell for waste paper.

Small and great, that is the case of all of us who are connected with
the firm. From the landlord, to whom two years' rent is owing and who,
for fear of losing it all, allows us to stay for nothing, to us poor
employees, even to me, who am involved to the extent of my seven
thousand francs of savings and my four years of arrears, we are running
after our money. That is the reason why I remain obstinately here.

Doubtless, in spite of my advanced age, thanks to my good appearance,
to my education, to the care which I have always taken of my clothes,
I might have obtained some post under other management. There is one
person of excellent repute known to me, M. Joyeuse, a bookkeeper in the
firm of Hemerlingue & Son, the great bankers of the Rue Saint-Honore,
who, every time he meets me, never fails to remark:

"Passajon, my friend, don't stop in that den of brigands. You are wrong
to persist in remaining. You will never get a halfpenny out of them. So
come to Hemerlingue's. I undertake to find some little corner for you