“But,” said Thuillier, rather astonished, “I thought that friendship was a good exchange for such services.”

“Yes; but when the exchange consists in one side giving all and the other side nothing, friendship gets tired of that sort of sharing, and asks for something a little better balanced.”

“But, my dear Theodose, what have I to offer you that you have not already rejected?”

“I rejected it, because it was offered without heartiness, and seasoned with Mademoiselle Brigitte’s vinegar; every self-respecting man would have acted as I did.  Give and keep don’t pass, as the old legal saying is; but that is precisely what you persist in doing.”

“I!—­I think you took offence very unreasonably; but the engagement might be renewed.”

“So be it,” replied la Peyrade; “but I will not put myself at the mercy of either the success of the election or Mademoiselle Celeste’s caprices.  I claim the right to something positive and certain.  Give and take; short accounts make good friends.”

“I perfectly agree with you,” said Thuillier, “and I have always treated you with too much good faith to fear any of these precautions you now want to take.  But what guarantees do you want?”

“I want that the husband of Celeste should manage your election, and not Theodose de la Peyrade.”

“By hurrying things as much as possible, so Brigitte said, it would still take fifteen days; and just think, with the elections only eight weeks off, to lose two of them doing nothing!”

“Day after to-morrow,” replied la Peyrade, “the banns can be published for the first time at the mayor’s office, in the intervals of publication some things could be done, for though the publishing of the banns is not a step from which there is no retreat, it is at least a public pledge and a long step taken; after that we can get your notary to draw the contract at once.  Moreover, if you decide on buying this newspaper, I shouldn’t be afraid that you would go back on me, for you don’t want a useless horse in your stable, and without me I am certain you can’t manage him.”

“But, my dear fellow,” said Thuillier, going back to his objections, “suppose that affair proves too onerous?”

“There’s no need to say that you are the sole judge of the conditions of the purchase.  I don’t wish any more than you do to buy a pig in a poke.  If to-morrow you authorize me, I won’t say to buy, but to let these people know that you may possibly make the purchase, I’ll confer with one of them on your behalf, and you may be certain that I’ll stand up for your interests as if they were my own.”

“Very good, my dear fellow,” said Thuillier, “go ahead!”

“And as soon as the paper is purchased we are to fix the day for signing the contract?”

“Yes,” replied Thuillier; “but will you bind yourself to use your utmost influence on the election?”

“As if it were my own,” replied la Peyrade, “which, by the bye, is not altogether an hypothesis.  I have already received suggestions about my own candidacy, and if I were vindictive—­”