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Page 39
"I have been thinking," interrupted Charles, quietly, "that we
will put: 'According to MUTUAL agreement.'"
Alphonse laughed no more; he put down his glass, and the cutlet
tasted bitter in his mouth.
He understood that friendship was dead between them, why or
wherefore he could not tell; but he thought that Charles was hard
and unjust to him. He was now stiffer and colder than the other.
They worked together until the business of dissolution was
finished; then they parted.
A considerable time passed, and the two quondam friends worked
each in his own quarter in the great Paris. They met at the
Bourse, but never did business with each other. Charles never
worked against Alphonse; he did not wish to ruin him; he wished
Alphonse to ruin himself.
And Alphonse seemed likely enough to meet his friend's wishes in
this respect. It is true that now and then he did a good stroke of
business, but the steady industry he had learned from Charles he
soon forgot. He began to neglect his office, and lost many good
connections.
He had always had a taste for dainty and luxurious living, but his
association with the frugal Charles had hitherto held his
extravagances in check. Now, on the contrary, his life became more
and more dissipated. He made fresh acquaintances on every hand,
and was more than ever the brilliant and popular Monsieur
Alphonse; but Charles kept an eye on his growing debts.
He had Alphonse watched as closely as possible, and, as their
business was of the same kind, could form a pretty good estimate
of the other's earnings. His expenses were even easier to
ascertain, and he soon assured himself of the fact that Alphonse
was beginning to run into debt in several quarters.
He cultivated some acquaintances about whom he otherwise cared
nothing, merely because through them he got an insight into
Alphonse's expensive mode of life and rash prodigality. He sought
the same cafes and restaurants as Alphonse, but at different
times; he even had his clothes made by the same tailor, because
the talkative little man entertained him with complaints that
Monsieur Alphonse never paid his bills.
Charles often thought how easy it would be to buy up a part of
Alphonse's liabilities and let them fall into the hands of a
grasping usurer. But it would be a great injustice to suppose that
Charles for a moment contemplated doing such a thing himself. It
was only an idea he was fond of dwelling upon; he was, as it were,
in love with Alphonse's debts.
But things went slowly, and Charles became pale and sallow while
he watched and waited.
He was longing for the time when the people who had always looked
down upon him should have their eyes opened, and see how little
the brilliant and idolized Alphonse was really fit for. He wanted
to see him humbled, abandoned by his friends, lonely and poor; and
then--!
Beyond that he really did not like to speculate; for at this point
feelings stirred within him which he would not acknowledge.
He WOULD hate his former friend; he WOULD have revenge for all the
coldness and neglect which had been his own lot in life; and every
time the least thought in defence of Alphonse arose in his mind he
pushed it aside, and said, like the old banker, "Sentiment won't
do for a business man."
One day he went to his tailor's; he bought more clothes in these
days than he absolutely needed.
The nimble little man at once ran to meet turn with a roll of
cloth: "See, here is the very stuff for you. Monsieur Alphonse has
had a whole suit made of it, and Monsieur Alphonse is a gentleman
who knows how to dress."
"I did not think that Monsieur Alphonse was one of your favorite
customers," said Charles, rather taken by surprise.
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