Read "Captain Fracasse" by Théophile Gautier online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
The next morning Bellombre drew Blazius aside, and untying the strings of a long leathern purse emptied out of it into the palm of his hand a hundred _pistoles_, which he piled up neatly on the table by which they were standing; to the great admiration of the pedant, who thought to himself that his friend was a lucky fellow to be in possession of so large a sum-absolute wealth in his eyes. But what was his surprise when Bellombre swept them all up and put them into his own hands.
"You must have understood," he said, "that I did not bring out this money in order to torment you in like manner with Tantalus, and I want you to take it, without any scruples, as freely as it is given-or loaned, if you are too proud to accept a gift from an old friend. These pieces were made to circulate-they are round, you see-and by this time they must be tired of lying tied up in my old purse there. I have no use for them; there's nothing to spend them on here; the farm produces everything that is needed in my household, so I shall not miss them, and it is much better in every way that they should be in your hands."