“And you set out instead of me.”
“Ah!”
“You put your horses to their best speed.”
“Good!”
“In six hours you will be at Etampes; in seven hours you
have the letter from the comte, and I shall have won my
wager without stirring from my bed, which suits me and you
too, at the same time, I am very sure.”
“Decidedly, Manicamp, you are a great man.”
“Hein! I know that.”
“I am to start then for Etampes?”
“Directly.”
“I am to go to the Comte de Guiche with this order?”
“He will give you a similar one for Monsieur.”
“Monsieur will approve?”
“Instantly.”
“And I shall have my brevet?”
“You will.”
“Ah!”
“Well, I hope I behave genteely?”
“Adorably.”
“Thank you.”
“You do as you please, then, with the Comte de Guiche,
Malicorne?”
“Except making money of him — everything?”
“Diable! the exception is annoying; but then, if instead of
asking him for money, you were to ask —- ”
“What?”
“Something important.”
“What do you call important?”
“Well! suppose one of your friends asked you to render him a
service?”
“I would not render it to him.”
“Selfish fellow!”
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Dumas, Alexandre – Ten Years Later
“Or at least I would ask him what service he would render me
in exchange.”
“Ah! that, perhaps, is fair. Well, that friend speaks to
you.”
“What, you, Malicorne?”
“Yes; I.”
“Ah! ah! you are rich, then?”
“I have still fifty pistoles left.”
“Exactly the sum I want. Where are those fifty pistoles?”
“Here,” said Malicorne, slapping his pocket.
“Then speak, my friend; what do you want?”
Malicorne took up the pen, ink, and paper again, and
presented them all to Manicamp. “Write!” said he.
“Dictate!”
“An order for a place in the household of Monsieur.”
“Oh!” said Manicamp, laying down the pen, “a place in the
household of Monsieur for fifty pistoles?”
“You mistook me, my friend; you did not hear plainly.”
“What did you say, then?”
“I said five hundred.”
“And the five hundred?”
“Here they are.”
Manicamp devoured the rouleau with his eyes; but this time
Malicorne held it at a distance.
“Eh! what do you say to that? Five hundred pistoles.”
“I say it is for nothing, my friend,” said Manicamp, taking
up the pen again, “and you exhaust my credit. Dictate.”
Malicorne continued:
“Which my friend the Comte de Guiche will obtain for my
friend Malicorne.”
“That’s it,” said Manicamp.
“Pardon me, you have forgotten to sign.”
“Ah! that is true. The five hundred pistoles?”
“Here are two hundred and fifty of them.”
“And the other two hundred and fifty?”
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Dumas, Alexandre – Ten Years Later
“When I am in possession of my place.”
Manicamp made a face.
“In that case give me the recommendation back again.”
“What to do?”
“To add two words to it.”
“Two words?”
“Yes, two words only.”
“What are they?”
“In haste.”
Malicorne returned the recommendation; Manicamp added the
words.
“Good,” said Malicorne, taking back the paper.
Manicamp began to count out the pistoles.
“There want twenty,” said he.
“How so?”
“The twenty I have won.”
“In what way?”
“By laying that you would have the letter from the Comte de
Guiche in eight hours.”
“Ah! that’s fair,” and he gave him the twenty pistoles.
Manicamp began to scoop up his gold by handfuls, and pour it
in cascades upon his bed.
“This second place,” murmured Malicorne, whilst drying his
paper, “which, at the first glance appears to cost me more
than the first, but —- ” He stopped, took up the pen in
his turn, and wrote to Montalais: —
“Mademoiselle, — Announce to your friend that her
commission will not be long before it arrives; I am setting
out to get it signed: that will be twenty-eight leagues I
shall have gone for the love of you.”
Then with his sardonic smile, taking up the interrupted
sentence: — “This place,” said he, “at the first glance,
appears to cost more than the first; but — the benefit will
be, I hope, in proportion with the expense, and Mademoiselle
de la Valliere will bring me back more than Mademoiselle de
Montalais, or else, — or else my name is not Malicorne.