"I accept, monsieur," he said, with fervour. "I am t'ankful a t'ousand
time!"

"All right; I take possession at once. We can have a notary draw up a
formal agreement. Now let's run over this schedule of prices," and he
turned to Pelletan's carefully prepared statement.

"Fery well, monsieur."

"I see you have two apartments de luxe at one hundred francs a day.
Hereafter they will be two hundred francs."

Pelletan gasped.

"From t'at, off course, t'ere will be a tiscount?" he stammered.

"Not a cent; not the tenth of a cent. Two hundred francs net."

"But, monsieur, efen at t'e old price, we haf always gif a tiscount! It
iss only Americans who pay t'e full price. Ot'er people expec'--"

Rushford waved his hand.

"I don't care what they expect. Besides, there's going to be one hotel
in Europe where Americans get a square deal. If your compatriots don't
want to patronise my house, they can go to that low-down lunatic asylum
across the street. By the way, what's its name?"

"T'e Grand Hôtel Splendide," answered Pelletan, glowing with delight at
his companion's power of invective.