'The King!' said the unknown, nearly surprised into an exclamation; 'by
no means!'
'And what then?'
'My good friend! is it possible that you have no bankers in your
country?'
'Yes, it is very possible; but we have mermaids, who also give us shells
which are pretty. What then are your bankers?'
'Really, my good friend, that is a question which I never remember
having been asked before; but a banker is a man who keeps our money for
us.'
'Ah! and he is bound, I suppose, to return your money, when you choose?'
'Most assuredly!'
'He is, then, in fact, your servant: you must pay him handsomely, for
him to live so well?'
'By no means! we pay him nothing.'
'That is droll; he must be very rich then?'
'Really, my dear friend, I cannot say. Why, yes! I -- I suppose he may
be very rich!'
'Tis singular that a rich man should take so much trouble for others!'
'My good friend! of course he lives by his trouble.'
'Ah! How, then,' continued the inquisitive Fantaisian, 'if you do not
pay him for his services, and he yet lives by them; how, I pray, does he
acquire these immense riches?'
'Really, my good sir, I am, in truth, the very last man in the world to
answer questions: he is a banker; bankers are always rich; but why they
are, or how they are, I really never had time to inquire.
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