The miniature painter determined to propose to paint the girl's portrait. The photographer hoped that she would allow him to photograph her in all sizes and in different attitudes. The young doctor was bent upon attending her, and prayed heaven to inflict some trifling indisposition upon his pretty neighbor which would compel her to have recourse to his skill. The married man, who was very ugly and had a pretty wife, naturally considered the shirtmaker much better-looking than his wife. As he lived above Monsieur de Mardeille, he too had an excellent view of Georgette's apartment. So he frequently stationed himself at one of the windows in his dining-room; and from thence, not content with staring at his neighbor, he had no scruple about making signs and throwing kisses to her--in a word, indulging in a pantomime most discreditable to a married man. The truth was that he knew that his wife was not jealous, and that she paid little heed to his acts and gestures. In fact, even the old bachelor, who had a maid of all work, ventured to make eyes at the pretty shirtmaker, despite his fifty-five years; and as his windows were not opposite hers, in order to see her he was obliged to lean very far out of his window. Thereupon the maid of all work never failed to cry out: "Mon Dieu! monsieur, it's perfectly ridiculous to lean out like that! What is it you're trying to see, anyway? Is monsieur trying to throw himself out of the window on account of the little shirtmaker on the entresol? On my word, she isn't worth the trouble! She's no great wonder; and then, monsieur won't have anything to show for the crick in his neck, for the girl never looks in this direction." And the bachelor, irritated, but desirous none the less to deal gently with his maid, would reply: "You don't know what you are talking about, Arthémise! I don't look in one direction more than another. I stand at the window because it does me good to breathe the fresh air. I don't pay any attention to my neighbors; I didn't even know that there was a shirtmaker on the entresol." "Oh, yes! tell that to the marines! you can't fool me! Why, all the men in the house are getting cracked over that girl! It's easy enough to see that, for they pass about all their time at their windows, now." In truth, as soon as Georgette's window was open and she sat down by it to work, you would see a head appear on the fourth floor, then another on the second; and sometimes they all appeared at the same moment. It seemed to amuse Georgette, who would respond affably with a little nod to the salutations addressed to her from every floor.