I'm simply a poor old man, worn out and only fit to be laid on the shelf.
It was for you, however, that I was working.

Since you have been able to find the right track without me, I shall feel some consolation in seeing you triumph amidst my own defeat.

Above all things, don't make any more mysteries.

Come to me if you are ever in trouble." And he added, with the sceptical smile of a nobleman who has lost caste: "Pshaw! I also can go in for a little treachery!" At this moment the clan of retired oil and almond dealers arrived.
"Ah! the dear reactionaries!" Monsieur de Carnavant continued in an undertone.

"You see, little one, the great art of politics consists in having a pair of good eyes when other people are blind.