Violette was seated behind her counter, making bouquets; she had a peculiar knack at blending colors, and giving its full effect to the simplest flower; her bouquets were tasteful, even when they were made up of modest flowers only; there was taste and charm in their arrangement; her art was apparent in every one. There are people who spoil whatever they touch, and others who can make something out of nothing.
Georget stopped a few feet away from the flower girl, and looked at her; but she was so busy over her bouquets that she did not see him, or at least did not seem to see him; so he decided to accost her.
"Good-morning, Mamzelle Violette."
"Ah! is it you, Monsieur Georget?"
"Yes, it"s me; I have been here some time already, within a few feet of you, looking at you; but you didn"t deign to glance in my direction."
"I didn"t deign! what does that mean? Do you think that I wouldn"t have said good-morning to you if I had seen you? Do you accuse me of being impolite now?"
"Oh, no! that isn"t what I mean, mamzelle; but sometimes, when one doesn"t care to talk with a person----"
"Are you going to begin that again, Georget? If I didn"t want to talk with you, what compels me to? I believe that I am my own mistress--alas!
only too much my own mistress, as I don"t know my parents, and my last protectress, Mere Gazon, is lying yonder in the cemetery."
"Well, now you are sad! I tell you, Mamzelle Violette, I was terribly sad last night too, for my mother was sick, and we were short of money."
"Why didn"t you tell me so, Georget? I would have lent you money. You know very well that I have some, that I sell as much as I want to sell, and that it wouldn"t have troubled me at all."
"Oh! upon my word! Borrow money of you, of you, mademoiselle! never!"
"What! never? what does this mean? Why not of me as well as of anybody else? Don"t you look upon me as your friend, or do you think me a hard-hearted creature, who would not take pleasure in obliging you?"
"Oh, no! no! it isn"t that! on the contrary I know very well that you are kind-hearted, that you love to do good; I have often seen you give money to unfortunate people! But it isn"t that; it is--mon Dieu! I don"t know how to express it; it is that I should be ashamed, I should blush to----"
"Well, well! you are getting all mixed up. I go straight to the point: Georget, do you want money? I have some here,--fifteen francs, twenty-five francs; it won"t embarra.s.s me in the least."
"Thanks, thanks, mamzelle; I am very grateful; but now it isn"t as it was last night; our position has changed, and we are in funds."
"Is that really true? how does it happen that in so short a time--Georget, if you are deceiving me, it is very wrong; you have no money!"
To prove to the flower girl that he was not deceiving her, the messenger told her all that had happened since the evening before. Violette listened with the deepest interest, and her eyes filled with tears at the story of Monsieur Malberg"s kindness.
"Ah! that gentleman is a fine man!" cried the girl, almost leaping from her chair. "Suppose I should carry him a bouquet from you; would that please him?"
"Oh, no! On the contrary it would make him angry; he doesn"t like to be thanked; I am sure that he would be angry with me, if he knew that I had told you how kind he was."
"That"s a pity; I would like to know him. Does he ever walk in this direction on market day?"
"No, I have never seen him here. He"s a man who doesn"t like society, nor noise; and when you don"t know him, why, he hasn"t an agreeable manner, I tell you!"
"But when one knows that he is kind and generous, then one ought not to be frightened by his manner."
"No matter, I a.s.sure you, mamzelle, that in his presence no one dares to laugh."
"Speaking of laughing, Monsieur Georget, I am going to scold you now."
"Scold me?"
"Yes indeed. Oh! it"s of no use for you to a.s.sume your innocent air, I was not fooled by what happened yesterday afternoon. The idea of throwing my customers down! that"s very pretty, isn"t it? If you should do that often, I don"t think that I should sell so many bouquets."
"But I didn"t throw anybody down!"
"No, not you, but that good-for-nothing Chicotin, who had planned the thing beforehand with you, because he knew that it would please you. Am I right? Come, Georget, answer me--didn"t you plan with Chicotin to throw that gentleman down?"
"Not that one, mamzelle, I haven"t any grudge against that one; it was the other one; Chicotin made a mistake."
"One or the other, it was very wrong, monsieur, to run against my customers and overturn almost the whole of my shop."
"But I tell you that Chicotin made a mistake."
"And I tell you that if either you or he ever do that sort of thing again, that will be the end, and I will not speak to you any more."
"Oh! never fear, mademoiselle, we shan"t do it again; not I, that is, for I can"t answer for others."
"The others only do what you want."
"Not speak to you any more? would that be possible? In the first place, I should keep on speaking to you!"
"But I wouldn"t answer you."
"Then you would mean to kill me with grief?"
"Nonsense, people don"t die for that sort of thing!"
"Oh, you think so, because you don"t feel what I do, here in the bottom of my heart."
"Georget, I thought that you intended to work hard to-day?"
"Ah! so I do, you are right.--By the way, mamzelle, you don"t happen to know a gentleman named De Roncherolle, do you?"
"No, I don"t know him."
"True, this isn"t the quarter where I can expect to find him; I must go to Boulevard des Italiens, to the Chaussee d"Antin; that"s a pity, for it"s a long way from you."
"Do you mean that you don"t expect to do errands except in the neighborhood of the Chateau d"Eau?"
"Why! of course I know that that isn"t possible; but I hate so to go away from you."
"Really, Georget, you make me want to laugh; you are not old enough yet to be in love, it isn"t so very long since I used to see you playing marbles with urchins of your age!"
"Oh! upon my word! it"s a long, long time since I stopped playing marbles; why, that"s a game for children."
"Oh! mon Dieu! don"t defend yourself so eagerly; there"s no harm in it.
And let me tell you, Georget, you would do better to play now than to pa.s.s your time sighing and looking up at the sky, and always having a dismal expression; you are better looking when you laugh."
"Do you think so, mamzelle? Well! it isn"t my fault, it isn"t by preference that I am dismal sometimes; but you always treat me like a child, and that annoys me. However, I am seventeen and a half, and I believe that I am almost as old as you."