"Don't you know that that monarch, after abdicating, cultivated a passion for clockmaking? He amused himself mending and improving clocks; he had an enormous number of them, and they went so well together that sometimes, as a reward of his labors, he had the pleasure of hearing them strike twelve for a whole hour!" They laughed heartily over Charles the Fifth's clocks; then Dupont observed: "I had a rendezvous for two o'clock, here in this path." "So had I." "And I." "But women are never on time!" "No, never!" "Especially when they are young and pretty; they know that we'll wait for them." "Yes, they are too anxious to make us long for them to come." "As for myself," said Edward, "I propose to wait just five minutes more; but if Mademoiselle Georgette hasn't arrived at the half-hour, I am going away!" "Georgette!" cried Monsieur de Mardeille. "Georgette!" muttered Monsieur Dupont. "On my word! this is strange; it's a Georgette I am waiting for, too!" "And I." "Pardieu! this is rather unique! A dark girl, medium height, but built like a Venus! And such a foot! and a leg! altogether enchanting!" "That is the exact portrait of the person I am waiting for." "It is the exact portrait of the Georgette who wrote to me." "This becomes decidedly interesting!" said the viscount. "I have her letter here." "So have I." "And I." "Let us compare them. Yes, it certainly is the same writing! Well, messieurs, I have a petticoat of hers here, which she left in my hands and asked me to bring back to her.--Tom! come here and show what you have under your arm." The little groom drew near and unfolded the white petticoat; Monsieur de Mardeille and Dupont instantly took the petticoats out of their pockets, and exhibited them, saying: "I also have brought her a petticoat." "And so have I, as you see." Thereupon the three gentlemen laughed so uproariously that the monkeys tried to imitate them. When their outburst of hilarity had subsided, the viscount said: "Don't you believe that the girl has made fools of us by writing to us all to meet her at the same place?" "I begin to think so," said Mardeille. "And she made us come in front of the monkeys!" exclaimed Dupont. "She selected this place purposely." "She certainly won't come; it is past the half-hour. I am going away." "Wait a moment, monsieur; there's a lady coming in this direction." "But she is with a gentleman." "Mademoiselle Georgette didn't write us that she would come alone." "I can't distinguish her features yet, for she has on a bonnet. But it isn't her figure at all. This one has an enormous funnel-shaped skirt." "That's a hoopskirt--the latest fashion." "Great God! how ugly she is! The Georgette I am expecting used to dress in such excellent taste! One could see how she was built." "Still, the nearer she comes, the more I think that I recognize her." "Why, yes, that's so! I would swear that it is she."