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 CHAPTER V

A PARCEL OF OLD SHOES

The day arrived when Fifi's hundred thousand francs was to be paid over to her and deposited in the bank. Fifi had taken for granted that Cartouche would be with her on that momentous occasion; but when the day came no Cartouche appeared, so she was forced to ask Madame Bourcet and Louis Bourcet to attend her. This they both agreed to do, with the utmost alacrity.

Fifi still remained perfectly and strangely docile, but her mind had begun to work normally once more, and Fifi had a very strong little mind, which could work with great vigor. She had the enormous advantage of belonging to that class of persons who always know exactly what they want, and what they do not want. She did not want to have her money where she could not get it; and banks seemed to her mysterious institutions which were designed to lock people's money up and prevent them from getting the benefit of it, but offered no