ood," he said, "that I did not bring out this
money in order to torment you in like manner with Tantalus, and I want
you to take it, without any scruples, as freely as it is given--or
loaned, if you are too proud to accept a gift from an old friend. These
pieces were made to circulate--they are round, you see--and by this time
they must be tired of lying tied up in my old purse there. I have no
use for them; there's nothing to spend them on here; the farm produces
everything that is needed in my household, so I shall not miss them, and
it is much better in every way that they should be in your hands."

Not finding any adequate reply to make to this astonishing speech,
Blazius put the money into his pocket, and, after first administering to
his friend a cordial accolade, grasped and wrung his hand with grateful
fervour, while an inconvenient tear, that he had tried in vain to wink
away, ran down his jolly red nose. As Bellombre had said the night
before, affairs were brightening with the troupe; good fortune had
come at last, and the hard times they had met and struggled against
so bravely and uncomplainingly were among the things of the past. The
receipts of the previous evening--for there had been some money taken
in, as well as plentiful stores of edibles--added to Bellombre's
pistoles, made a good round sum, and the chariot of Thespis, so
deplorably bare of late, was now amply provisioned. Not to do things by
halves, their generous host lent to the comedians two stout farm horses,
with a man to drive them into Poitiers, and bring them back home again.
They had on their gala-day harness, and from their gaudily-painted,
high-peaked collars hung strings of tiny bells, that jingled cheerily
at every firm, regular step of the great, gentle creatures. So our
travellers set out in high feather, and their entry into Poitiers,
though not so magnificent as Alexander's into Babylon, was still in
very fine style indeed. As they threaded their way through the narrow,
tortuous streets of that ancient town, the noise of their horses' iron
shoes ringing out against the rough stone pavement, and the clatter of
their wheels drew many inmates of the houses they passed to the windows,
and a little crowd collected around them as they stood waiting for
admission before the great entrance door of the Armes de France; the
driver, meanwhile, cracking his whip till it sounded like a volley of
musketry, to which the horses responded by shaking