I include neither this Chinese cabinet nor the two dozen
bracelets. The total is four hundred thousand francs!"
"Are you sure?"
"As one can be who has had that amount, and has it no longer."
"Four hundred thousand francs, only fancy! Are there no centimes?"
"No."
"Then, my dear friend, if I make up my bill, you will still owe me
something."
The entrance of the maid with the tea-tray interrupted this amorous
duet, of which Noel had experienced more than one repetition. The
advocate held his tongue on account of the servant. Juliette did the
same on account of her lover, for she had no secrets from Charlotte, who
had been with her three years, and with whom she had shared everything,
sometimes even her lovers.
Madame Juliette Chaffour was a Parisienne. She was born about 1839,
somewhere in the upper end of the Faubourg Montmarte. Her father was
unknown. Her infancy was a long alternation of beatings and caresses,
equally furious. She had lived as best she could, on sweetmeats and
damaged fruit; so that now her stomach could stand anything. At twelve
years old she was as thin as a nail, as green as a June apple, and more
depraved than the inmates of the prison of St.
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