"I have one or two, but it ain't my fault. God knows, I always receive 'em with my fists closed. But these men! the crueler you are, the more they hang on! I have shown Monsieur Beauvisage that I don't like his attentions; I always throw his presents in his face; but it don't make any difference: just as sure as I leave my stand for a minute, when I come back I find a sausage among my roses, or a pig's foot on my footwarmer. Why, the other day, my birthday, he actually came to wish me many happy returns, with a white pudding, and truffled at that! But all that don't touch my heart; I told him that I wouldn't have him, before all the old gossips of the quarter; and I threw his pudding in his face. He went away in a rage, swearing that he'd kidnap me. So you can imagine that I shivered with fright when I saw him come into the Grand Salon, especially as I know what a hot-headed fellow he is.--Would you believe, monsieur, he had the cheek to ask me to dance, just as if nothing had happened! I refused him flat, because I ain't two-faced. He tried to force me to dance; Finemouche came running up and ordered him to let me alone instantly, at which he held me all the tighter. Cadet handled him so rough that they went out to fight. My sister Fanchon blamed me, because it made her mad to have her lover fight for me. But the worst of it all is that Finemouche, who had drunk a good deal with his salad, was beaten by Beauvisage. Fanchon ran off as soon as she saw her lover on the ground; I tried to do the same, but my tormentor ran after me. At last I caught sight of you, monsieur, and that gave me courage; I was sure you'd protect me; I grabbed your arm, and that's all." Nicette's story interested me; and the thing that pleased me most was that she seemed to be virtuous and had no lover.--"What difference did that make to you?" you will say; "as you were a young man in society, of course you would not make love to a flower girl." True; I had no such purpose; and yet, I became conscious that for some moments I had been pressing the girl's arm more tenderly than before. But it was because I was distraught. "Do you think my mother will beat me, monsieur?" "I don't see why she should be angry; you have done nothing wrong." "Oh! in the first place, we shouldn't have gone to the Grand Salon." "That was your sister's fault." "Yes, but she'll say it was mine. And then, I'll tell you something. My mother's inclined to favor Beauvisage, who shuts her eyes with galantine and never comes to the house without a chitterling eight inches long. Mother's crazy over chitterlings, and she'd like to have me marry the pork man, so that she could always have a pig's pudding on hand. But I have always refused to hear with that ear, and since then they all look crosswise at me at home. So they'll lay the quarrel and the whole row on my shoulders. Oh! mon Dieu! I shall be beaten, I am sure!" "Poor Nicette! I promise you that I will speak to your mother in your behalf."