"Ten sous! oh! that's too much. You're not going to Place Cadet, are you, mademoiselle?" "Oh! no, monsieur; we're going to the country." "Ah! do the omnibuses take people to the country too?" "They take you everywhere, monsieur." "Really! I have such a longing to see the sea; do the omnibuses give transfer checks for the seashore?" "You have only to ask, and you'll find out." The tall clown was on the point of returning to the clerks, but he was pushed aside by the man who had gone to get a glass of beer, and who returned to the office with a joyous air, saying: "Ah! this time I think I haven't been long; is my La Villette 'bus coming?" "La Villette!--it's just started, monsieur." "Oh! that is too much. Why couldn't you make it wait?" "They never wait, monsieur." "When will there be another one now?" "In about ten minutes." "Oh! then I have time enough to get a cup of coffee--and a glass of liqueur to wash down the beer." With that, he returned to the cafe, followed by the tall youth, who shouted to him from afar: "Monsieur, a ticket for Place Cadet?" IV ONLOOKERS AND LOITERERS A line of carriages, with white-gloved coachmen, semi-bourgeois equipages, had halted on the square in front of the restaurant; still another wedding party intending to banquet at Deffieux's. A number of people had gathered in front of the door, to watch the bridal couple enter. Inquisitive folk abound in Paris; perhaps it would be more accurate to say that they abound everywhere. Why this general desire to see a bride, when she has not as yet performed all the duties which that title devolves upon her? Is it simply to see whether she is pretty, and to read upon her features whether or not she is looking forward joyfully to becoming a wife? This is a simple question that we ask, but we will not undertake to answer it. Among the persons who had halted there, some in passing, others coming from the omnibus office, others on the way there, was a tall man, in the neighborhood of forty-five years, standing very straight, even bending back a little from the hips, with head erect, nose in air, and his hat on one side, in true roistering style.