"I? who can have persuaded you of a similar sottise?"
"You yourself! Last Nénimôse, you were the first to speak to me of the Ouestmarche funds; I therefore bought all the Sous-tour bonds I could lay hands on, and gained four hundred thousand mushroom-lions, whereof one hundred thousand were religiously remitted to you. In Soûlimôse, it was a smiau de fer concession, for which three companies were competing; you told me that your instinct (I daresay the same instinct I just ordered out of the house) made you believe that the privilege would be given to the Company of the Ring. As you foresaw, the privilege was accorded to it, and I made one million mushroom-lions, whereof two hundred thousand were remitted to you. In Viresséal, you went to dine with the minister, where one spoke of Gilles-Chrysophylace and the Petit-Royaume bubble, and how Caudimordace swords were going to be the Cigares-Tobie of the decade, which indeed happened, and I gained 600, 000 mushroom-lions, of which you received 50, 000, bringing your total income this year to 500, 000 mushroom-lions."
"And so what?" snapped the baroness.
"Well, after that point the manure begins to hit the fan."
"Really, monsieur, your façons de dire are..."
