“Yes, and so is the postman when he is behind time.  I’m busy too.”

“What, with the man you have just left?”

“Yes; he is a sharper chap than I am.  How much do you earn every day, Daddy Tantaine?  Well, that chap makes his thirty or forty francs every night, and does precious little for it.  I should like a business like that, and I think that I shall secure one soon.”

“Have patience.  I thought that you were going into business with those two young men you were drinking beer with at the Grand Turk?”

Toto uttered a shrill cry of anger at these words.  “Business with them?” shrieked he; “they are regular clever night thieves.”

“Have they done you any harm, my poor lad?”

“Yes; they have utterly ruined me.  Luckily, I saw Mascarin yesterday, and he set me up in the hot-chestnut line.  He ain’t a bad one, is Mascarin.”

Tantaine curled his lip disdainfully.  “Not a bad fellow, I dare say, as long as you don’t ask him for anything.”

Toto was so surprised at hearing Tantaine abuse Mascarin, that he was unable to utter a word.

“Ah, you may look surprised,” continued the old man, “but when a man is rolling in riches, and leaves an old friend to starve, then he is not what I call a real good fellow.  Now, Toto, you are a bright lad, and so I don’t mind letting you know that I am only waiting for a good chance to drop Mascarin, and set up on my own account.  Work for yourself, my boy.”

“I know that; but it is a good deal easier to say than to do.”

“You have tried then?”

“Yes, I have; but I came to grief over it.  You know all about it as well as I do, for don’t tell me you didn’t hear every word I said that night you were hunting up Caroline Schimmel.  However, I’ll tell you.  One day when I saw a lady who looked rather nervous get out of a cab, I followed her.  I was decently togged out, so I rang at the door.  I was so sure that I was going to make a haul that I would not have taken ninety-nine francs for the hundred that I expected to make.  Well, I rang, a girl opened the door, and in I went.  What an ass I made of myself!  I found a great brute of a man there, who thrashed me within an inch of my life, and then kicked me downstairs.  See, he made his mark rather more plainly than I liked.”  And removing his cap, the boy showed several bruises about his forehead.

During this conversation Tantaine and the lad had been walking slowly up the Champs Elysees, and had by this time arrived just opposite M. Gandelu’s house, where Andre was at work.  Tantaine sat down on a bench.

“Let us rest a bit,” said he; “I am tired out; and now let me tell you, my lad, that your tale only shows me that it is experience you want.  Now, I have any amount of that, and I was really the prime mover in most of Mascarin’s schemes.  If I were to start on my own account, I should be driving in my carriage in twelve months.  The only thing against my success is my age, for I am getting to be an old man.  Why, even now I have a matter in my hands that is simply splendid.  I have had half the money down, but I want a smart young fellow to pull it through.”