A promise may sometimes be binding on the conscience even when not made
in specific terms:
M. Fallieres was presiding at a banquet at Agen, when a piece
of money dropt from his waistcoat pocket to the floor. His
neighbor said: “I think you have let fall a 2f. piece.” But
he replied, “Let it be; that will be a lucky find for the
waiter,” and he called the latter, whispering to him to look
out for a 2f. piece, which he would find somewhere under his
seat on the floor. Toward the end of dinner M. Fallieres was
seen by his neighbor to be feeling with a preoccupied air in
his waistcoat pockets. As he rose he looked round, fancied he
was not observed, and gently let a 2f. piece slide down to the
floor. His neighbor, who had noticed the strange proceeding,
asked M. Fallieres afterward if he would tell him what it meant.
“The fact is,” Mr. Fallieres answered, “that I remembered that
I keep only coppers in my left-hand pocket, from which the
piece dropt that you supposed was 2f., whereas it must have
been only 2 sous. So I took out of my right pocket, in which I
keep my silver, another coin, which that time really was a 2f.
piece, and dropt it for the waiter to find. I did not want to
disappoint the man after telling him, you see.” (Text.)
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