"Admirable! magnificent!" cried Pa.s.sedix. "Still, if the cloak had been of another color, to form a contrast with the rest----"

"Oh! monsieur le chevalier, it is much richer, much more stylish, like this. Look at our king, Louis XIII--does he wear several colors? is he not almost always dressed in black throughout: short-clothes, doublet, and cloak?"

"Sandioux! he is right! and I could not choose a n.o.bler model!--Yes, all of one color--that is more harmonious, it is pleasanter to the eye. On my honor, I am enraptured with this costume! Let us drink, messieurs; I long to try it on."

"We shall have the honor to serve you as valets de chambre, monsieur le chevalier."

"You are too obliging! Drink, I say, young clerks!"

Pa.s.sedix, who was as impatient as a child over the prospect of putting on a new garment, hastily finished his dinner, then proceeded to his toilet. With the a.s.sistance of the two clerks, he speedily donned short-clothes, doublet, girdle, and cloak. Then he strode about the room, looked at himself in the great mirror that adorned the mantelpiece, and seemed not to tire of viewing himself both before and behind.

"How do you find me?" he asked the young men; "tell me, without flattery."

Every part of the costume was much too large for the Gascon, whose thin, lank body danced about in his new clothes. But Bahuchet a.s.sumed an expression of admiration as he gazed at him, and exclaimed:

"It suits you magnificently, seigneur chevalier! One would swear that the costume was made for you; it makes you stouter.--Egad! how handsome you are now!"

"The short-clothes are perhaps a little full, are they not?"

"That will be all right; you are superb!"

"In truth, I believe that I am not to be despised in this garb; and if the little one should see me now, it is probable that she would be less surly; but she shall see me--I must meet her somewhere. I propose to exhibit myself to the whole city."

"You will find no cruel fair, seigneur."

"He is very agreeable, this little clerk!--It's a pity that your friend has that plaster on his head--it makes him look too much like a poodle; if I were in his place, I would rather sneeze than wear that.--By the way, messieurs, I forgot the most essential article--the price of these clothes."

"Thirty pistoles for the whole outfit," said Plumard, curtly, for he was not pleased to be thought to resemble a poodle.

"Thirty pistoles it is! we will draw on the little bag. Money is made to keep moving, sandis!"

While Pa.s.sedix counted out the thirty pistoles to Plumard, for a costume which his uncle the second-hand dealer had said that he would sell for fifteen, Popelinette returned with a basket containing divers bottles.

The old servant was dumfounded at sight of Pa.s.sedix, whom she did not recognize.

"Who in the world is this person?" she murmured.

"This person, Popelinette, is your tenant, whom you have never seen in such gorgeous attire, and whom you did not deem capable of becoming so charming, I fear; there are so many people who notice only the clothes, and do not choose to take the trouble to look deeper! I was as handsome a man this morning, but I did not wear this magnificent costume, so that I was less admired!"

"I am inclined to think that he was not admired at all!" said Plumard to his comrade.

"Oh! monsieur le chevalier--why, you look like an orange now!" replied the old servant.

"So much the better, my dear, so much the better! The orange is a distinguished and sweet-smelling fruit. I will go to some perfumer's shop this evening, and cause myself to be sprinkled from head to foot, so that people may smell me five minutes before they see me.--But let us drink, my dear clerks, let us taste these bottles--let us empty them, cadedis!--and no heeltaps!--Come, young plaster! Cheer up, and take off that shocking blister, which makes you look like a spaniel."

Plumard made a wry face, but he drank; Bahuchet laughed at his companion's expression, and emptied his gla.s.s, which Pa.s.sedix refilled.

The two clerks were soon more than hilarious, and began to make remarks which might have compromised them in Pa.s.sedix's eyes, if he had been in a condition to notice them; but, being engrossed by his new costume and his newly acquired wealth, and being pa.s.sably excited himself by his frequent libations, the chevalier did not hear what the two clerks said; especially as the wine had loosened the tongues of all three, so that they all talked at once.

"Six thousand francs a year! O fortune!--How becoming this color is to me!"

"I like this wine rather well."

"Plumard, we must go into the old clothes business; it pays."

"Why does he call me _spaniel_ and _poodle_? I get tired of that, in the end.--Let's take a drink!"

"Your health, boys!--Ah! when she sees me thus, as brilliant as the sun, I shall be one too many for her four-faced lover!"

"Bahuchet's infernal pomade is responsible for my wearing this round thing on my head!"

"Your health, O my infanta!"

"Thirty pistoles! I make a profit of a hundred per cent, and I am tempted not to give my uncle anything."

"O Miretta! I will lay my little h.o.a.rd at thy feet, and myself as well!"

"The devil take Maitre Bourdinard's office! I propose to enjoy myself; I work no more!"

In the midst of this hubbub, the bottles being empty, Pa.s.sedix paid no further heed to the two clerks, but left the hotel, to display himself to an admiring Paris and to seek Miretta.

Bahuchet and his friend followed him to Place aux Chats. There they stopped, looked at each other, and began to laugh. They linked arms, each thinking that he was supporting the other, and Bahuchet stammered:

"We have thirty pistoles to spend; for I don't suppose, dear boy, that you will be foolish enough to give half of it to your uncle the old clothes man?"

"I never had any such intention. My uncle can afford to make me that little gift."

"If he loses his temper, you can tell him that somebody stole the bundle, the clothes."

"That is true. I'll say that the famous Giovanni stripped me."

"Bravo! the very thing; let us charge the accident to Giovanni's account. Par la sambleu! the fellow is stout enough to take a lot of robberies on his shoulders."

"Now, we will have some sport. We must make the thirty pistoles dance.--Look out, my dear boy, steady!"

"Where shall we go to spend it?"

"We must go out of Paris, or we might meet some of our comrades, and then we should have to treat them too."

"No such fools!"

"Let us go to the village of Le Roule."

"Where is that village?"

"Le Roule?--It's a pretty village, just after you leave Paris by Porte Saint-Honore.--There's a leper's hospital there."

"A leper's hospital! Thanks! What an attraction! Do you propose that we go for diversion to a leper's hospital?"