"There's Bastringuette!" exclaimed Albert; "parbleu! she is always out of doors--she must help us in our hunt for Tobie." "True, she can act as beater," said Mouillot. The young men walked toward the flower girl, and halted in front of her. Bastringuette looked up at them. "Mon Dieu!" she ejaculated; "what a bunch of customers to fall on me all at once! What luck for me! for I haven't sold anything to-day. Buy my flowers, messieurs; I have something to put in your buttonholes." "Bastringuette," said Albert, "do you remember the young man who was with us the day before yesterday on the boulevard? the one who thrust his nose into all your bouquets to smell them better?" "You mean a fat little fellow with a face that looked like a painting, and a small glass in one eye?" "That's the man, you know him." "Well, we are hunting him." "Is he a stag?" "Yes; we are even afraid that he's a kite!"[K] "A kite! and you want to hitch something to his tail, so that he'll go up straighter." "Ha! ha! ha! On the contrary, we're running after him to prevent his flying at all. If you see him, tell him a lady wants to see him at Tortoni's." "No, no, messieurs; Tobie wouldn't believe that; he knows that ladies don't often go to Tortoni's, and that they wouldn't give him a rendezvous there; the best way would be to have Bastringuette tell our man that a lady, who wishes to see him alone, will expect him, at nine in the evening, at the--the--Pâté des Italiens.--You might even give him a handsome bouquet, and tell him that the lady sent it to him. And when you have done it, just tell one of the waiters in the café, and he will inform us; we all go there every day." "Bravo!" said Mouillot; "that's an excellent scheme; if our flower girl here sees Tobie and tells him that, he will surely fall into the trap, and we'll nab our man at the Pâté des Italiens." "Well, Bastringuette, will you do what we want?" "Why not?--that is, if I see the man." "Oh! you will surely see him! But what's the trouble, Bastringuette? you don't seem in as good spirits as usual to-day; has there been any difficulty in our love affairs?" The tall girl replaced her tray on her hip, with a sigh, and answered: "My love affairs! Oh! they're all done with; they've gone to bed." "What do you mean? Has Sans-Cravate been unfaithful to you?" "Just the opposite; I tried to be to him." "Bravo! good enough! that's frank, at all events! Agree, messieurs, that very few women who act like Bastringuette would answer as she did." "Oh! bless my soul! I don't take four roads to get to a place. I don't know how to hide my passions. I didn't want to deceive Sans-Cravate, so I told him that I didn't love him any more." "And he tried to force you to stay with him--to love him?"