"A very respectable occupation, Mademoiselle," replied Müller, politely. "For my own part, I would sooner paint the insides of some houses than the outsides of some people." At this moment the train began to slacken pace, and the steam was let off with a demoniac shriek. "_Tiens, mon enfant_," said the old lady, turning towards her niece with affectionate anxiety. "I hope you have not taken cold." The excellent soul believed that it was Mademoiselle Marie who sneezed. And now the train had stopped--the porters were running along the platform, shouting "Courbevoie! Courbevoie!"--the passengers were scrambling out _en masse_--and beyond the barrier one saw a confused crowd of _charrette_ and omnibus-drivers, touters, fruit-sellers, and idlers of every description. Müller handed out the old lady and the niece; the fat countrywoman scrambled up into a kind of tumbril driven by a boy in _sabots_; the grisettes and soldiers walked off together; and the tide of holiday-makers, some on foot, some in hired vehicles, set towards the village. In the meanwhile, what with the crowd on the platform and the crowd outside the barrier, and what with the hustling and pushing at the point where the tickets were taken, we lost sight of the old lady and her niece. "What the deuce has become of _ma tante_?" exclaimed Müller, looking round. But neither _ma tante_ nor Mademoiselle Marie were anywhere to be seen. I suggested that they must have gone on in the omnibus or taken a _charrette_, and so have passed us unperceived. "And, after all," I added, "we didn't want to enter upon an indissoluble union with them for the rest of the day. _Ma tante's_ deafness is not entertaining, and _la petite_ Marie has nothing to say." "_La petite_ Marie is uncommonly pretty, though," said Müller. "I mean to dance a quadrille with her by-and-by, I promise you." "_A la bonne heure_! We shall be sure to chance upon them again before long." We had come by this time to a group of pretty villa-residences with high garden walls and little shady side-lanes leading down to the river. Then came a church and more houses; then an open Place; and suddenly we found ourselves in the midst of the fair.