Why do you not spend it?'
'I do, sire.'
'I hear that you have been putting down your carriage. I do not give
you money to hoard in a bank, but I give it to you that you may keep up
a fitting appearance with it. Let me hear that your carriage is back in
the coach-house when I return to Paris. Junot, you rascal, I hear that
you have been gambling and losing.'
'The most infernal run of luck, sire,' said the soldier, 'I give you my
word that the ace fell four times running.'
'Ta, ta, you are a child, with no sense of the value of money. How much
do you owe?'
'Forty thousand, sire.'
'Well, well, go to Lebrun and see what he can do for you. After all, we
were together at Toulon.'
'A thousand thanks, sire.'
'Tut! You and Rapp and Lasalle are the spoiled children of the army.
But no more cards, you rascal! I do not like low dresses, Madame
Picard. They spoil even pretty women, but in you they are inexcusable.
Now, Josephine, I am going to my room, and you can come in half an hour
and read me to sleep. I am tired to-night, but I came to your salon,
since you desired that I should help you in welcoming and entertaining
your guests.
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