Page:Novels of Honoré de Balzac Volume 23.djvu/248

 “Four thousand francs. The carriage, although second-hand, cost two thousand francs; but it is a handsome one, the wheels are a patent.”

“What do you say, Cabirolle?” asked Madame Crémière.

“He says à ma tante,” replied Goupil, “it is an English idea, and they invented these wheels. Here! you see, nothing can be seen, it all fits in, that’s nice, it does not get locked, and there is no longer that horrid end of square iron which used to go beyond the axle.”

“What rhymes with ma tante?” then said Madame Crémière, innocently.

“What!” said Goupil, “that does not ‘tente’ you then?”

“Ah! I understand,” she said.

“Well, no, you are an honest woman,” said Goupil, “I must not deceive you, the real word is à patte entre, because the pin is hidden.”

“Yes, madame,” said Cabirolle, who was taken in by Goupil’s explanation, so seriously had the clerk given it.

“It is a fine carriage all the same,” cried Crémière, “and one must be rich to buy a kind like that.”

“She is doing well, the little one,” said Goupil. “But she is right, she is teaching you how to enjoy life. Why have you not got beautiful horses and carriages, you, Papa Minoret? Will you let yourself be humiliated? Were I in your place I would have a prince’s carriage!”