Tramps on the banks of the Seine. Paris, about 1937-38.

Source:
Paris en Images, copyright Gaston Paris / Roger-Viollet (RV-844158):
Click here to view source.

Gaito Gazdanov's Paris / 41

The list

I was still in my bed when there came an energetic ringing of my doorbell. I put on a bathrobe and slippers and went to open it for I believed it to be one of those beggars who come asking you for money on the pretext of unemployment or bad health, and who are satisfied with two francs.

I was not unaware that my name and address appeared on that mysterious list of people who never refuse charity; it circulated among the tramps and existed in several versions; those listing rich and above all generous people sold at a high price; other versions were less expensive and then again some were exchanged free of charge.

That I occupied one of the last places I learned from a debonair old drunk whose tongue habitually loosened after the first glass.

�You, I can buy you cheap,� he revealed to me with a note of contempt in his voice; �for five francs at most, and if I look scruffy enough, even for three.

�We know, dear sir, that you yourself are broke. Why do you give money to this riffraff?�

I answered, shrugging my shoulders, that the two francs I gave wouldn�t ruin me, and that if a man turns to begging he doesn�t do it for fun.

�That�s true, but regardless, you shouldn�t give anything to anyone. It�s because you are still young, dear sir.� And off he went with his two francs. [131]