Page 101 - down-and-out-in-paris-and-london

then suddenly she got quite excited. Her great thick mouth
fell open with astonishment.
‘’You idiot!’ she cried out. ‘Imbecile! What’s THIS,
then?’
‘I saw that she had picked up an empty oil BIDON that
had been lying in the comer. I had bought it weeks before,
for an oil lamp I had before I sold my things.
‘That?’ I said. ‘That’s an oil BIDON. What about it?’
‘’Imbecile! Didn’t you pay three francs fifty deposit on
it?’
‘Now, of course I had paid the three francs fifty. They
always make you pay a deposit on the BIDON, and you get
it back when the BIDON is returned. But I’d forgotten all
about it.
‘’Yes—‘ I began.
‘’Idiot!’ shouted Maria again. She got so excited that she
began to dance about until I thought her sabots would go
through the floor, ‘Idiot! T’ES FOU! T’ES FOU! What have
you got to do but take it back to the shop and get your de-
posit back? Starving, with three francs fifty staring you in
the face! Imbecile!’
‘I can hardly believe now that in all those five days I had
never once thought of taking the BIDON back to the shop.
As good as three francs fifty in hard cash, and it had never
occurred to me! I sat up in bed. ‘Quick!’ I shouted to Maria,
‘you take it for me. Take it to the grocer’s at the corner—run
like the devil. And bring back food!’
‘Maria didn’t need to be told. She grabbed the BIDON
and went clattering down the stairs like a herd of elephants

100 Down and Out in Paris and London