The children waited quietly for half an hour; but they were tired by that time; they thought that they had been forgotten; and as they could enjoy themselves much more in the garden than under the stage, they left their bouquets there and went outside to play. In running about they approached the house, and saw on the ground floor, in a well-lighted room, a sideboard covered with innumerable delicacies, the bare sight of which made them open their mouths and lick their chops. They stopped, sighed, nudged each other, divined each other's thought, and looked behind them in obedience to the natural instinct of the man who is about to do wrong. There was no one in sight; all the servants had deserted the house for the play. "Oh! see the nice things, brother!" said the smaller of the two; "we never saw anything like 'em!" "Oh! Fanfan, mustn't that be sweet?" "Say, Jean; just think--if we could eat some of it!" "Look at them cakes!" "There's no one there; let's climb in! Come on!" They easily climbed in the ground-floor window; they ran to the sideboard, stuffed their mouths full, made aprons of their tunics, and filled them with fruit, meats, and cakes; lapped the cream that they could not carry away; dug their fingers into jars of preserves, and took refuge finally in the attic, to eat at their ease what they had filched. While the little peasants were regaling themselves, Raymond was scouring the whole estate to find his Cupids. As he came out of the theatre, after a vain search, he met Monsieur de Marsan, who was looking for his wife, the company being surprised at her continued absence. "Have you found them?" inquired Raymond. "I don't know where she is; people are asking for her; ordinarily, I am not called upon to interfere in anything." "Whom are you talking about?" "My wife, who is not here to do the honors of the fête." "Parbleu! Madame de Marsan can't be lost; she'll turn up; but my two Cupids--I am more anxious about them; for I must give them back to their mother, who is not Venus; and she'll break one of her little pitchers over my head if her brats are not found. Let us search the gardens together; the little rascals must be somewhere here." Monsieur de Marsan followed Raymond, hoping to find his wife rather than the two little fugitives. They walked through part of the garden, and Monsieur de Marsan proposed to return to his guests, feeling sure that his wife must be with them; but Raymond detained him, telling him that he, Marsan, was responsible for the Cupids, as they were lost on his premises. They drew near the swing, which was close to the clump of trees where I was playing my scene with Madame de Marsan. "They are over in this direction," said Raymond; "I hear the swing moving; I was sure that my little blackguards were amusing themselves." They reached the swing, but saw nothing. "There's no one here, you see," said Monsieur de Marsan.