Come, old fellow, do you mean to play fair with me?"
"Yes."
"If I wanted to show my teeth I could coax Massin to buy the Rouvre
estate, park, gardens, preserves, and timber--"
"You'd better think twice before you do that," said Zelie, suddenly
intervening.
"If I choose," said Goupil, giving her a viperish look; "Massin would
buy the whole for two hundred thousand francs."
"Leave us, wife," said the colossus, taking Zelie by the arm, and
shoving her away; "I understand him. We have been so very busy," he
continued, returning to Goupil, "that we have had no time to think of
you; but I rely on your friendship to buy the Rouvre estate for me."
"It is a very ancient marquisate," said Goupil, maliciously; "which
will soon be worth in your hands fifty thousand francs a year; that
means a capital of more than two millions as money is now."
"My son could then marry the daughter of a marshal of France, or the
daughter of some old family whose influence would get him a fine place
under the government in Paris," said Minoret, opening his huge
snuff-box and offering a pinch to Goupil.
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