"A hundred thousand francs went rolling round the shops."

"Millions, oui. All the day, just a squandering that you've no idea
of, a sort of devil's delight."

"Believe me or not," said Blaire to Cadilhac, "but in the middle of
it all, what we had the least of was fires, just like here and
everywhere else you go. You had to chase it and find it and stick to
it. Ah, mon vieux, how we did run after the kindlings!"

"Well, we were in the camp of the C.H.R. The cook there was the
great Martin Cesar. He was the man for finding wood!"

"Ah, oui, oui! He was the ace of trumps! He got what he wanted
without twisting himself."

"Always some fire in his kitchen, young fellow. You saw cooks
chasing and gabbling about the streets in all directions, blubbering
because they had no coal or wood. But he'd got a fire. When he
hadn't any, he said, 'Don't worry, I'll see you through.' And he
wasn't long about it, either."

"He went a bit too far, even. The first time I saw him in his
kitchen, you'd never guess what he'd got the stew going with! With a
violin that he'd found in the house!"

"Rotten, all the same," says Mesnil Andre. "One knows well
enough that a violin isn't worth much when it comes to utility, but
all the same--"