No sooner said than
done, and during twenty years I was encumbered with the old--"
"What! you repent of your admirable conduct, M. Tabaret?"
"Do I repent of it! That is to say he deserved to be poisoned by the
bread I gave him."
M. Daburon was unable to repress a gesture of surprise, which did not
escape the old fellow's notice.
"Hear, before you condemn me," he continued. "There was I at
twenty-five, imposing upon myself the severest privations for the sake
of my father,--no more friends, no more flirtations, nothing. In the
evenings, to augment our scanty revenues, I worked at copying law
papers for a notary. I denied myself even the luxury of tobacco.
Notwithstanding this, the old fellow complained without ceasing; he
regretted his lost fortune; he must have pocket-money, with which to
buy this, or that; my utmost exertions failed to satisfy him. Ah, heaven
alone knows what I suffered! I was not born to live alone and grow old,
like a dog. I longed for the pleasures of a home and a family. My dream
was to marry, to adore a good wife, by whom I might be loved a little,
and to see innocent healthy little ones gambolling about my knees.
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