"Well, what then?"

"She hesitated for a long time, reflected for a long time; then I redoubled my eloquence; I pictured the marquis dying of despair if she repulsed his vows."

"Idiot! was that necessary?"

"Yes, certainly; it was highly necessary; the little one was weighing it."

"Did she make any wry faces?"

"No; on the contrary, she gave me the most interesting glances."

"Finally, is she coming?"

"Yes, by jingo! she's coming. Yes; but it took me to decide her."

"Tomorrow evening?"

"Yes, at eight o'clock."

"Where is she to be?"

"On the Pont de la Tournelle."

"That's good."

"As soon as I had got her answer, I attached my rosette."

"Excuse me from the rest; I know enough."

"You must know that in bowing too precipitately I broke a pane, for which they made me pay a crown, and for which I hope I shall be reimbursed.--Ah, that's not all; I know that the lady is named Julia, and also that she is an Italian. You see I did not lose any time. Are you pleased with me?"

"Yes, it's not so bad," said Touquet, with a less gloomy expression, approaching a table on which Marguerite had, according to her usual custom, placed some cups and a pewter pot full of wine. "Stop your eternal chatter; I'm well enough pleased with you. Drink a cup of wine."

"You call exact.i.tude of detail chatter," said Chaudoreille, filling one of the cups up to the brim; "but I was trying to show you that I did not steal the money which you gave me. As for the pane of gla.s.s, I had to make that circ.u.mstance known to you, for I had only nine crowns remaining.--Ah, I forgot; the gold-colored rosette cost me two crowns, so I've only received seven."

"Two crowns for that miserable knot," said the barber, glancing mockingly at the handle of the sword. "Chaudoreille, you have missed your vocation; you should be a steward; you know how to swell your bills."

"What must I understand by these words, I beg of you?"

"That that rosette did not cost over fifteen sous."

"Yes, for a pa.s.ser-by, for an unknown, perhaps; but when one represents a great n.o.bleman, shopkeepers fleece him, and I didn't believe that I should haggle. If anyone had asked me three times the price, I should have given it without uttering a word."

"Calm yourself," said Touquet, smiling at the heat with which Chaudoreille tried to prove that he had spent three crowns; "we must reimburse you for your ruff."

"Oh, I'm not uneasy about that, but what shall I do tomorrow? Shall I go to the rendezvous? Shall I carry off the little one?"

"No; that concerns me only. I can trust you to startle the game for me, but I don't think proper to let you bring it down."

"You know me very little still, my dear Touquet. I believe that you should render more justice to my adroitness and my valor. If you knew how many intrigues I have drawn to a successful end! It's necessary to see me in moments of difficulty. I take precedence over everybody; I would abduct a Venus under the eyes of Mars, and all the Vulcans would not make me afraid."

"I don't doubt it, but I don't want to put you to the proof."

"All the worse for you, for you would see some very surprising things.

No obstacle would stop me; when I'm excited I'm an Achilles. Wait; I should just like once, by chance, that you should find yourself in some danger, that you should have need of help; then, as quick as lightning, with Rolande in my hand--"

At this moment a noise was heard in the street, and Touquet, squeezing Chaudoreille's arm exclaimed,--

"Be quiet! be quiet! I hear something."

"What does it matter to us what they are doing in the street? There are, perhaps, some young men laughing and amusing themselves. Let them do it.

I tell you, then, that, brandishing my redoubtable sword--"

"Be quiet, then, stupid," resumed the barber, holding the chevalier's arm still more tightly; "they are beginning again."

They then distinctly heard the sound of a guitar which someone was playing near the house.

"Someone who loves music," said Chaudoreille.

"Hush! let us listen," said Touquet, whose features expressed the most lively anxiety, while the chevalier murmured in a ba.s.s voice,--

"They don't play at all well; they have need of some of my lessons."

Almost immediately a voice was heard which, accompanied by the guitar, sang a tender romance, of which the refrain recalled to the barber the words which Blanche had quoted to him.

"No more doubt of it," said Touquet, rising suddenly; "they are singing to her. Ah, reckless fellow, I'll go and take away from you all desire to return here."

While saying these words the barber ran to get his poniard, which hung over the fireplace, while Chaudoreille changed color and murmured,--

"What the devil is the matter with you? What are you going to do? and who are you going to do it to?"

"To an insolent fellow who is in front of this house. Come, Chaudoreille; follow me. If there were ten of them, they should have the pleasure of feeling my poniard. You shall also have the pleasure of chasing and chastising these blackguards."

While saying this Touquet ran into the shop and hastened to open the door, being by that means sooner in the street than if he had gone by the pa.s.sageway. While he precipitately drew the bolts, Chaudoreille rose with a good deal of fury and ran three times round the hall, crying,--

"Where the devil have I laid my sword?"

This feat accomplished, he perceived that Rolande had not left his side, and cried to Touquet, who could not hear him,--

"Stupid that I am! In my hurry I did not see him. I am with you; I have only to draw him from the scabbard.--Come then, Rolande.--It is this cursed knot which holds him. Plague be on the rosette! Touquet, here I am; amuse them a little until I can draw Rolande from the scabbard."

But the barber was already in the street, while Chaudoreille remained at the back of the room, appearing to be making futile efforts to draw his sword, crying all the while,--

"I am with you! Cursed rosette! Without it I should have already killed five or six."