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.