"Of course," said Morrie. "They are young, they love each other, and with their 25, 000 floquerins of rent per year, they imagine that they will be rich as the Glamhothschilds or Bilbon."
"It's so little, however, twenty-five thousand floquerins," said Monte Fato with the gentleness of a balrogue feeding coals to its balroguelets. "I was robbed of ten times that once, and would never have noticed the difference, had not my intendant amused me greatly by burning the perpetrators to a crisp."
"And much fighting of the long debt did it take them to achieve that much," said Morrie. "For an unpleasant competitor by the name of Smaugue le Dragon undercut them in their every endeavour."
"I must remember to have one of my lackeys occupy himself of that," said the Count. "Your story is attendrissant."
At this point, they reached the salon, which was perfumed by flowers barely contained in a vase from Rhoûne adorned with a beautifully calligraphic haiku about rings. One heard the song of those charming insects called niquebriquiers from a nearby cage. Bilbette, suitably clad and marvellously coiffed in the most modern "style parapluie", and with admirably polished nails (she had accomplished this barad-tour de force in ten minutes), presented herself to receive the Count at his entrance.
