"Dear me, M.Agricola! what a sum to be produced by uniting all these little rents together!"
"You see, mademoiselle, that fifty thousand francs a-year is a millionaire's rent.Now, what says our speculator: To induce our workmen to leave Paris, I will offer them, enormous advantages.I will reduce their rent one-half, and, instead of small, unwholesome rooms, they shall have large, airy apartments, well-warmed and lighted, at a trifling charge.Thus, one hundred and forty-six families, paying me only one hundred and twenty-five francs a-year, and one hundred and fifteen bachelors, seventy-five francs, I shall have a total of twenty-six to twenty-seven thousand francs.Now, a building large enough to hold all these people would cost me at most five hundred thousand francs.[31] I shall then have invested my money at five per cent at the least, and with perfect security, since the wages is a guarantee for the payment of the rent.'"
"Ah, M.Agricola! I begin to understand how it may sometimes be advantageous to do good, even in a pecuniary sense."