Monsieur Madinier went round with a plate. The spinster and the
ladies who were alone--Madame Lerat, Madame Fauconnier, Mademoiselle
Remanjou--discreetly placed their five-franc pieces in it first.
Then the gentlemen went to the other end of the room, and made up the
accounts. They were fifteen; it amounted therefore to seventy-five
francs. When the seventy-five francs were in the plate, each man added
five sous for the waiters. It took a quarter of an hour of laborious
calculations before everything was settled to the general satisfaction.

But when Monsieur Madinier, who wished to deal direct with the landlord,
had got him to step up, the whole party became lost in astonishment on
hearing him say with a smile that there was still something due to him.
There were some extras; and, as the word "extras" was greeted with angry
exclamations, he entered into details:--Twenty-five quarts of wine,
instead of twenty, the number agreed upon beforehand; the frosted eggs,
which he had added, as the dessert was rather scanty; finally, a quarter
of a bottle of rum, served with the coffee, in case any one preferred
rum. Then a formidable quarrel ensued. Coupeau, who was appealed to,
protested against everything; he had never mentioned twenty quarts; as
for the frosted eggs, they were included in the dessert, so much the
worse for the landlord if he choose to add them without being asked to
do so. There remained the rum, a mere nothing, just a mode of increasing
the bill by putting on the table spirits that no one thought anything
about.

"It was on the tray with the coffee," he cried; "therefore it goes with
the coffee. Go to the deuce! Take your money, and never again will we
set foot in your den!"