I cannot take one penny from Monsieur Clapart's salary for my son.

What can you do?
You are not strong enough to mathematics to enter any of the technical schools; and, besides, where could I get the three thousand francs board-money which they extract?
This is life as it is, my child.

You are eighteen, you are strong.

Enlist in the army; it is your only means, that I can see, to earn your bread." Oscar knew as yet nothing whatever of life.

Like all children who have been kept from a knowledge of the trials and poverty of the home, he was ignorant of the necessity of earning his living.