"Yes, I am expecting some one, who seems in no hurry to come."

"You have an appointment on the boulevard, at the flower market? That is very pleasant; you walk amid agreeable odors. Ladies often make their appointments at the flower market."

"No, I have no appointment; I came here because I am in love with a little flower girl; and very pretty she is! Ah! she beats Madame Boutillon, I tell you!"

"That is very possible! I never thought that Madame Boutillon could not be beaten.--Where does your lovely flower girl stand?"

"Over yonder, opposite us--that booth where there is no one just now.

She has probably gone to carry a bouquet somewhere."

"How goes your love-affair? have you triumphed?"

"I have not triumphed yet----"

"So your flower girl is a model of virtue, an untamed beauty, is she?"

"A model of virtue! Oh! I thought so for a long while. When I found how cruel she was, I fancied that Violette--that is her name--I fancied that Violette was virtuous; but I was mistaken; I was a blockhead; the flower girl is not cruel with everybody, I have a proof of it. She does her work on the sly!"

Georget, who had not lost a word of the conversation between the two young men, sprang to his feet like a flash, and planting himself in front of Astianax, said to him, glaring at him with eyes inflamed by wrath:

"You lie! you insult Violette! just because she refuses to listen to you! But you are nothing but a slanderer, do you hear?"

Little Glumeau was thunderstruck; he rolled his eyes about in all directions, and utterly failed to understand that apostrophe which fell from the clouds upon him; but Chambourdin, who was perfectly calm, stepped between Astianax and Georget, and said to the latter:

"Why do you put your oar in, my boy? Who spoke to you? Why do you presume to interfere in our conversation? Are you a spy, that you busy yourself listening to us? The deuce! you are beginning that trade very young!"

"That's so," said Astianax, beginning to recover from his surprise; "what does this mean? whom is this little _voyou_, this blackguard, talking to?"

"Oh! don't insult me, monsieur, or I'll punch your head; I am a messenger, a respectable young man!"

"Once more," retorted Chambourdin, "we don't know you; why did you listen to what monsieur was saying to me?"

"Why did you stop and talk right in front of me? I should have had to stuff my ears to keep from hearing. Still, I didn't pay much attention to your words, until monsieur began to talk about Mademoiselle Violette the flower girl; then I listened with all my ears, it is true, because it interested me, because I know Mamzelle Violette, because I know that she's an honest girl, who doesn't listen to what men say to her, when they try to induce her to make a fool of herself; and you said that she wasn't cruel to everybody, that she wasn't virtuous, that she wasn't a model of virtue! You lied, and I couldn't listen to that without saying something, for I should have been a coward if I had heard you insult Violette without taking up her defence."

"It seems that this is another lover of the flower girl," said Chambourdin, turning toward Astianax to laugh; but the latter had turned as red as a rooster, and he said to Georget:

"I might send you to the devil; but I am willing to answer you. I didn't lie in what I said about the flower girl. No, I didn't lie, I said nothing that I'm not sure of. No, Mademoiselle Violette isn't virtuous; for girls who mean to remain virtuous aren't in the habit of calling on young men who live all alone."

"Do you mean to say that Violette has been to your house?"

"No, not to mine! but to the rooms of a young man who lives on the same landing that I do,--his door is just opposite mine.--I say, Monsieur Chambourdin, it's Monsieur Jericourt the author, who came to our party at Nogent with a friend of his, who was dressed so nicely----"

"That he looked like a tailor's manikin.--Oh! I remember those two gentlemen perfectly!"

Georget, who had turned pale at the mention of Jericourt's name, said to Astianax:

"I too know the gentleman you speak of; I have seen him often enough come here and play the gallant with Mamzelle Violette; but she has never listened to him, and it was he who lied when he told you that she had been to his room."

"He didn't need to tell me anything, because I saw,--do you hear?--because I saw the pretty flower girl come out of his room."

"No, no! you made a mistake; it wasn't her, it couldn't have been!"

"I couldn't have made a mistake, for I know her perfectly well, and she pa.s.sed close to me."

"It wasn't her, I say."

"Ah! this is too much! What if I should tell her so when she returns, in your presence--then would you believe me, young messenger?"

"You would dare to tell her that--her?"

"Why should I hesitate, as it's the truth?"

Georget seemed completely upset, he was pale and agitated, and did not know what to think.

"Come, come, my poor boy," said Chambourdin, "I see that you too are daft over this flower girl, who is very fascinating, it seems; but after all, perhaps it's a great service that my young friend does you, by opening your eyes with respect to this girl. You credit her with all the virtues, because you are in love with her; that is easily understood, you are so young! but that is a common thing; oh! these women! they are very fragile! When five years more have pa.s.sed over your head, I should like to hear what you say about them."

Georget said nothing more, but Astianax exclaimed:

"The flower girl has returned to her place, and I am going to talk with her. Monsieur Chambourdin, come in that direction, as if by accident, and bring this fellow who doesn't choose to believe me; in a moment you will know if I have said anything other than the truth."

"I have no objection," said Chambourdin; "indeed I ask nothing better than to approach the flower girl; she is enchanting, and I believe that I am falling in love with her too!"

Little Astianax walked for some distance among the booths and shrubs, for it was flower market day on Boulevard Saint-Martin; then he approached Violette with an indifferent air and began to look at her flowers. The girl, recognizing the little man with the squint, acted as if she did not see him and kept on making a bouquet.

"All these flowers are lovely! they are all as fresh as you are!" said Astianax at last, vexed because the flower girl paid no attention to him.

"Does monsieur want another bouquet that speaks?" said Violette with a mischievous expression.

"No, mademoiselle; you see, I have found out that there is no need of that to make myself understood; it is much better to say myself what--what I have already said to you several times: that you are maddeningly beautiful, and that I adore you!"

"Dear me! I a.s.sure you, monsieur, that it tires me to hear the same thing over and over again."

"Ah! it tires you, does it?" retorted the little man, a.s.suming an impertinent tone. "Indeed! that's a great pity! But still I am not inclined to stop. Why should I lose courage? You are not so unkind as you choose to appear; as you have been sensible to the attentions of others, why should you not become so to me?"

"I don't know what you mean, monsieur, but once more I beg you not to talk this way to me."

"Ah! don't pretend to be angry like this, my lovely flower girl; it won't go down with me again. Have you forgotten that I saw you coming out of Monsieur Jericourt, my neighbor's? I live on his landing. Oh! you were tremendously agitated, and well rumpled when you left his room."

"Monsieur! what you say is outrageous!"

"Outrageous! Do you mean to say that I lie? Will you dare to say that it isn't so?"

Chambourdin and Georget, who were only a few steps away, had overheard everything. The young messenger could no longer contain himself; he ran forward and stood in front of Violette, pale and trembling, with blazing eyes, and said to her in a broken voice:

"So it is true! so it is true, as you don't deny it!"

The flower girl, greatly surprised at Georget's sudden appearance in front of her, was embarra.s.sed for a moment, and stammered at last:

"Well! if it was so, is that any reason for speaking to me like this?"