Page:The fortunes of Fifi (IA fortunesoffifi00seawiala).pdf/75

 *ber 1313 would win a prize. He found himself, without his own volition, figuring upon what should be done with the money, so as to enure to the greatest benefit of Fifi.

"If it is a twenty-franc prize she draws, she must have a pair of new shoes, and some good stockings"—he thought, for Cartouche knew intimately the condition of Fifi's wardrobe. "If it is as much as fifty francs, the shoes and stockings must wait—it won't do to fool away such a sum as fifty francs; it must be put aside for a rainy day, for Fifi, in the tin box in the cranny of the chimney"—where Cartouche was beginning to save up also for a rainy day, for Fifi. If it were five hundred francs—or possibly a thousand—Cartouche lost his breath in contemplation of the catastrophe. In that case, Fifi would have a dot, but whom would she marry? She knew no one but the men about the theater, and Cartouche did not consider any of them a match for Fifi; but perhaps he was prejudiced. She might, it is true, with five hundred francs to her dowry, marry a tradesman; but how would Fifi get on with a tradesman?

Altogether, it was the most puzzling proposition Cartouche had ever struggled with, and he began