XXVIII 
  
BASE COINAGE 
  
  
AS we moved away from the tobacco shop 
my friend made a careful partition of his small 
change. In the left-hand pocket of his waist-
coat he slipped small pieces of gold; in the 
right, silver coins; in the left-hand pocket of 
his breeches, a lot of coppers, and finally, in 
the right, a silver two-franc piece which he 
closely examined. 
Curious and careful disposition, said I to 
myself. 
We met a poor man who, trembling, held 
out to us his cap—I know nothing more disqui-
eting than the dumb eloquence of these be-
seeching eyes, which contain, for the sensitive 
man who understands how to read therein, 
both so much humility, and so much reproach. 
There is therein something approaching this 
depth of complex sentiment in the watery eyes 
of whipped dogs. 
My friend’s alms were much more consid-
erable than my own, and I said to him, “You 
are right; after the pleasure of being aston-