Page 146 - down-and-out-in-paris-and-london

XXIII

s soon as I left the Auberge de Jehan Cottard I went to
Abed and slept the clock round, all but one hour. Then
I washed my teeth for the first time in a fortnight, bathed
and had my hair cut, and got my clothes out of pawn. I had
two glorious days of loafing. I even went in my best suit to
the Auberge, leant against the bar and spent five francs on a
bottle of English beer. It is a curious sensation, being a cus-
tomer where you have been a slave’s slave. Boris was sorry
that I had left the restaurant just at the moment when we
were LANCES and there was a chance of making money. I
have heard from him since, and he tells me that he is mak-
ing a hundred francs a day and has set up a girl who is TRES
SERIEUSE and never smells of garlic.
I spent a day wandering about our quarter, saying good-
bye to everyone. It was on this day that Charlie told me
about the death of old Roucolle the miser, who had once
lived in the quarter. Very likely Charlie was lying as usual,
but it was a good story.
Roucolle died, aged seventy-four, a year or two before I
went to Paris, but the people in the quarter still talked of
him while I was there. He never equalled Daniel Dancer or
anyone of that kind, but he was an interesting character. He
went to Les Halles every morning to pick up damaged veg-
etables, and ate cat’s meat, and wore newspaper instead of

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