"And you have much money?"
"Oh! only a little."
"How much?
Let me see."
Joseph gave a slight chuckle.
"You may know well that it is not here.
It is in a place where it is making little ones."
"Yes, but how much?"
Then in a low voice, almost a whisper:
"Perhaps fifteen thousand francs; perhaps more."
"My! but you are well fixed, you are!"
"Oh! perhaps less, too. One cannot tell."
Suddenly the two dogs lifted their heads simultaneously, bounded to the door, and began to bark.
I made a movement of fright.
"That's nothing," said Joseph, reassuringly, giving each of them a kick in the side; "simply people passing in the road.
Why, it is Rose, going home.
I know her step."
And, in fact, a few seconds later I heard a sound of dragging steps in the road, and then a more distant sound of a closing gate.
The dogs became silent again.
I had sat down on a stool in a corner of the harness-room. Joseph, with his hands in his pockets, walked back and forth in the narrow room, his elbows hitting against the pine wainscoting from which leather straps were hanging.
We did not speak, I being horribly embarrassed and regretting that I had come, and Joseph being plainly tormented by what he had still to say to me.
After some minutes he made up his mind.
"There is another thing that I must confide to you, Celestine.
I am from Cherbourg.
And Cherbourg is a tough town, full of sailors and soldiers, of jolly lascars who do not deny themselves pleasure; business is good there.
Well, I know a fine opportunity just now at Cherbourg.
It is a matter of a little cafe near the water. A little cafe in a first-rate location.
The army is drinking a great deal these days; all the patriots are in the street; they shout and bawl and get thirsty.
Now is the time to get it.
One could make hundreds and thousands, I promise you.
Only, you see, there must be a woman there,—an orderly woman, a pretty woman, well equipped, and not afraid of slang and smut.
The sailors and soldiers are good-natured and gay and full of fun. They get drunk on the slightest provocation, and they are fond of women, and spend much for them.
What do you think about it, Celestine?"
"I?" I exclaimed, stupefied.
"Yes; just suppose the case.
Would you like it?"
"I?"
I did not know what he was coming at.
I trembled from surprise to surprise.
Utterly upset, I could think of no answer to make.
He insisted:
"You, of course.
And who, then, do you expect to come to the little cafe?
You are a good woman; you are orderly; you are not one of those affected creatures who do not know even how to take a joke; and you are patriotic!
And then you are pretty, very nice to look at; you have eyes to drive the whole Cherbourg garrison crazy.
Just the cheese!
Now that I know you well, now that I know all that you can do, this idea keeps continually running through my head."
"Well? And you?"
"I, too, of course!
We would marry, like good friends."