"
"Yes, but you don't take them while he is living."
"Oh, what meanness!" said Philippe, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, so
you haven't got any money?"
"No," said Joseph, who was determined not to show his hiding-place.
"In a few days we shall be rich," said Madame Descoings.
"Yes, you; you think your trey is going to turn up on the 25th at the
Paris drawing. You must have put in a fine stake if you think you can
make us all rich."
"A paid-up trey of two hundred francs will give three millions,
without counting the couplets and the singles."
"At fifteen thousand times the stake--yes, you are right; it is just
two hundred you must pay up!" cried Philippe.
Madame Descoings bit her lips; she knew she had spoken imprudently. In
fact, Philippe was asking himself as he went downstairs:--
"That old witch! where does she keep her money? It is as good as lost;
I can make a better use of it. With four pools at fifty francs each, I
could win two hundred thousand francs, and that's much surer than the
turning up of a trey."
He tried to think where the old woman was likely to have hid the
money. On the days preceding festivals, Agathe went to church and
stayed there a long time; no doubt she confessed and prepared for the
communion. It was now the day before Christmas; Madame Descoings would
certainly go out to buy some dainties for the "reveillon," the
midnight meal; and she might also take occasion to pay up her stake.
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