Rollo in Paris | Page 5

"Suppose it is altogether my fault," said Rollo. "Then I think I ought to
pay."
"But your father said that he was sure you would not be to blame for
such accidents; though I think he is mistaken there. I have no doubt,
myself, that nearly all the accidents that will happen to you will come
from boyish heedlessness and blundering on your part."
"We'll see," said Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George, "we'll see."
"Then, as to your board," continued Mr. George, "your father said that
you might do as you pleased about that. He would pay it, or you might,
and be allowed five francs a day for it."

"Five francs is about a dollar, is it not?" asked Rollo.
"Yes," replied Mr. George, "very nearly. But you had better not reckon
by dollars, now, at all, but by francs altogether. That's a franc."
So saying, Mr. George took a silver coin out of his pocket, and showed
it to Rollo. It was nearly as large as a quarter of a dollar, or an English
shilling, but not quite. A quarter of a dollar is worth twenty-five cents,
an English shilling twenty-four, and a franc about twenty cents.
"You can have five of those a day to pay your own board with."
"And how much would it cost me at a boarding house, in Paris, to pay
my board?" asked Rollo.
"Why, we don't board at boarding houses in Paris," said Mr. George.
"We have rooms at a hotel, and then we get breakfast and dinner
wherever we please, at coffee rooms and dining rooms all over the city,
wherever we happen to be, or wherever we take a fancy to go. You can
get a very excellent breakfast for a franc and a half. A beefsteak, or an
omelet, and bread and butter and coffee."
"That's enough for breakfast," said Rollo. "And then, dinner?"
"You can get a first-rate dinner for two francs, or even less. That makes
three francs and a half."
"And tea?"
"They never take tea in Paris," said Mr. George. "The French don't take
tea."
"Why not?" asked Rollo.
"I don't know," replied Mr. George, "unless it is because the English do.
Whatever is done in London, you generally find that just the contrary is
done in Paris."
"Don't we have any thing, then, after dinner?" asked Rollo.

"Yes," said Mr. George. "The French generally go and take a seat at a
little round table on the sidewalk, and have a little glass of brandy and a
cigar."
Here Rollo threw his head back, and laughed loud and long. He was
greatly amused at the idea of his making an allowance, in calculating
how far his five francs would go, for a glass of brandy and a cigar. Mr.
George himself, sedate as he was, could not but smile.
"The fact is," said he, at length, "there are only two meals to calculate
for, and they will not cost, upon an average, more than three francs and
a half, if we are prudent and economical, and go to plain and not
expensive places. But then there is the immense amount that you will
be always wishing to spend for cakes, and candy, and oranges, and nuts,
and bonbons of all sorts and kinds. There is an endless variety of such
things in Paris. You will find half a dozen cake shops in every street,
with fifty different kinds of gingerbread and cake in them, all of the
richest and most delicious description."
"Yes," said Rollo, "I shall want some of those things."
"No doubt," said Mr. George, "you will make yourself sick eating them,
I'll venture to say, before you have been in Paris twenty-four hours."
"No," said Rollo, shaking his head resolutely; "and I think I had better
take the five francs and pay my own board."
"Very well," said Mr. George, "and that provides for every thing except
incidentals. Your father said that I might pay you five francs a day for
incidentals and pocket money. That is to include all your personal
expenses of every kind, except what we have already provided for.
There will be excursions, and tickets to concerts and shows, and
carriage hire, and toys that you will want to buy, and all such things.
The amount of it is, that your father pays all your expenses for
transportation, for lodging, and for casualties. You pay every thing else,
and are allowed ten francs a day for it. I am to be treasurer, and to have
the whole charge of your funds, except so far as I find it prudent and
safe to intrust them to you, and you are to buy nothing at all against my

consent."
"Nothing at all?" asked Rollo.
"No," said Mr. George, "nothing at all. You