1150 Les Miserables
‘Do you want me to lend you some?’
‘Never.’
‘Have you clothes?’
‘Here is what I have.’
‘Have you trinkets?’
‘A watch.’
‘Silver?’
‘Gold; here it is.’
‘I know a clothes-dealer who will take your frock-coat
and a pair of trousers.’
‘That is good.’
‘You will then have only a pair of trousers, a waistcoat, a
hat and a coat.’
‘And my boots.’
‘What! you will not go barefoot? What opulence!’
‘That will be enough.’
‘I know a watchmaker who will buy your watch.’
‘That is good.’
‘No; it is not good. What will you do after that?’
‘Whatever is necessary. Anything honest, that is to say.’
‘Do you know English?’
‘No.’
‘Do you know German?’
‘No.’
‘So much the worse.’
‘Why?’
‘Because one of my friends, a publisher, is getting up a
sort of an encyclopaedia, for which you might have trans-
lated English or German articles. It is badly paid work, but