"I am like you, I?"
"Oh! not in your features, of course. But you and I, in the very depths of the soul, are the same thing. Yes, yes, I know what I say."
Again there was a moment of silence. Then he resumed, in a voice that was less stern:
"I have a feeling of friendship for you, Célestine. And then ". . .
"And then?". . .
"I have some money, too,—a little money."
"Ah?"
"Yes, a little money. Why, one does not serve forty years in good houses without saving something. Is it not so?"
"Surely," I answered, more and more astonished by Joseph's words and manner. "And you have much money?"
"Oh! only a little."
"How much? Let me see."
Joseph gave a slight chuckle.
"You may know well that it is not here. It is in a place where it is making little ones."
"Yes, but how much?"
Then in a low voice, almost a whisper:
"Perhaps fifteen thousand francs; perhaps more."
"My! but you are well fixed, you are!"
"Oh! perhaps less, too. One cannot tell."
Suddenly the two dogs lifted their heads
