The
persons who were most bitter against him even declared calumniously
that he had made over a large amount of property to Dumay to save it
from the just demands of his associates in China. Butscha took
advantage of this state of feeling. He asked the fishermen, who owed
him many a good turn, to keep the secret and lend him their tongues.
They served him well. The captain of the fishing-smack told Germain
that one of his cousins, a sailor, had just returned from Marseilles,
where he had been paid off from the brig in which Monsieur Mignon
returned to France. The brig had been sold to the account of some
other person than Monsieur Mignon, and the cargo was only worth three
or four hundred thousand francs at the utmost.
"Germain," said Canalis, as the valet was leaving the room, "serve
champagne and claret. A member of the legal fraternity of Havre must
carry away with him proper ideas of a poet's hospitality. Besides, he
has got a wit that is equal to Figaro's," added Canalis, laying his
hand on the dwarf's shoulder, "and we must make it foam and sparkle
with champagne; you and I, Ernest, will not spare the bottle either.
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