Page 147 - down-and-out-in-paris-and-london

underclothes, and used the wainscoting of his room for fire-
wood, and made himself a pair of trousers out of a sack—all
this with half a million francs invested. I should like very
much to have known him.
Like many misers, Roucolle came to a bad end through
putting his money into a wildcat scheme. One day a Jew
appeared in the quarter, an alert, business-like young chap
who had a first-rate plan for smuggling cocaine into Eng-
land. It is easy enough, of course, to buy cocaine in Paris,
and the smuggling would be quite simple in itself, only there
is always some spy who betrays the plan to the customs or
the police. It is said that this is often done by the very people
who sell the cocaine, because the smuggling trade is in the
hands of a large combine, who do not want competition.
The Jew, however, swore that there was no danger. He knew
a way of getting cocaine direct from Vienna, not through
the usual channels, and there would be no blackmail to
pay. He had got into touch with Roucolle through a young
Pole, a student at the Sorbonne, who was going to put four
thousand francs into the scheme if Roucolle would put six
thousand. For this they could buy ten pounds of cocaine,
which would be worth a small fortune in England.
The Pole and the Jew had a tremendous struggle to get
the money from between old Roucolle’s claws. Six thousand
francs was not much—he had more than that sewn into
the mattress in his room—but it was agony for him to part
with a sou. The Pole and the Jew were at him for weeks on
end, explaining, bullying, coaxing, arguing, going down on
their knees and imploring him to produce the money. The

1 Down and Out in Paris and London