Sans-Cravate; or, The Messengers; Little StreamsKock, Paul de
General
Sans-Cravate; or, The Messengers; Little Streams
Kock, Paul de
French fiction -- Translations into English
Three days later, Dodichet called again on Mademoiselle Boulotte, and
found her still at work on her mineral rouge, for which she hoped to
obtain a patent. Dodichet was radiant; he waltzed into the room, and
began by taking the _figurante_ in his arms and whirling her about
without giving her time to put down her brick and her hammer, despite
her cries:
"Let go, I say! or, at any rate, let me put down my brick!"
"Do you know the waltz from _L'Auberge des Adrets_, Boulotte--the one
Frédérick used to dance so well in his picturesque costume as Robert
Macaire? I can dance that waltz just a little."
"Let me put down my brick. Pshaw! there it goes, and it's all smashed!"
"Well! as long as you were going to smash it with a hammer anyway, you
have so much less to do."
"That's different. I shall lose half of it on the floor! What in the
world's the matter with you to-day that makes you so gay?"
"Parbleu! I have found my man--my Sicilian."
"Ah! the man with a secret?"
"Just so."
"And he's a Sicilian?"
"Yes, a Sicilian from Pontoise. Ah! what a fool I am! what did I say
that for? Don't repeat that, Boulotte, I beg you. If you ever see me
anywhere with a man you don't know, don't let the word Pontoise escape
you--or everything's over between us!"
"What silly nonsense is this you are giving me? You act like a crazy
man!"
"Let's drop that. Have you done my errand?"
"Yes, monsieur; I have done your errand. I was sure that Rosa, who knows
all the second-hand clothes women in Paris, would know her; she sold her
not long ago a steel comb, which she owed to the munificence of an
Englishman, with two teeth broken----"
"The Englishman?"
"No, the comb!"
"Very good. Rosa's one of your companions at the theatre, isn't she? a
brunette with yellow eyes, and complexion to match?"
"Yes, but never mind about her; you promised me a salmi of partridges if
you found your man with the secret--you see--I didn't say, your man from
Pontoise."
"Hush! imprudent girl! I was coming to the salmi in a minute, when I
spoke about Rosa. Our feast will take place at her room--day after
to-morrow, at noon, to give her time to tell Putiphar to come there
that day about one; I shall be there, you understand, and I shall have
told you and Rosa what to say to her so that my plan may succeed."
"Are you going to play a joke on someone?"
"To be sure."
"Never fear, then! we'll tell her all the foolish stuff you want."
"I have never doubted it. It's understood, then--day after to-morrow, at
twelve o'clock, at Rosa's.--Does she still live on Rue de Lancry?"
"Yes."
"I promise you a breakfast of swallows' nests, like the Chinese."
"No, no, I don't want that! The idea of eating birds' nests! what a
horror!"
"Then we will transform them into charlotte russe."
"All right! Order the breakfast at Lecomte's, corner of Rue de Lancry
and the boulevard; that's a nice restaurant."
"Never you fear; I know the good places."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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