“Nothing. Please answer me!”
“Well, in our little town, an income of eight hundred or a thousand
francs makes anybody very well off.”
“Let us say a thousand.”
“Well, a thousand would make a man very comfortable.”
“And what capital would produce such an income?”
“At five per cent, it would take twenty thousand francs.”
“That is to say, about the income of a year.”
“Exactly.”
“Never mind. I presume that is quite a large sum, and it would be rather
difficult for you, grandpapa, to get it together by to-morrow morning?”
“Not at all. I have that much in railway coupon-bonds; and they are just
as good as current money.”
“Ah! Do you mean to say, that, if I gave anybody twenty thousand francs
in such bonds, it would be just the same to him as if I gave him twenty
thousand francs in bank-notes?”
“Just so.”