"Just see how things change their aspect!" cried the girl, in her ingenuous delight; "this loft, which seemed such a dismal place to me at first, seems very attractive now, and I am sure that I shall like it very much; for I shall always remember that it was here that you first told me that you loved me." Paul was about to reply with renewed protestations, when they heard a great burst of laughter close at hand. They stepped to the entrance to the loft, and saw three young men in the small room below that opened on the landing, standing at the foot of the ladder, clapping their hands, shouting _bravo_, and laughing uproariously. The new-comers were Albert, Célestin, and Mouillot, whom we left asleep in Balivan's studio, and who, when they woke about six in the morning, began by laughing at the idea of their being in that place. Then they started to return to their respective abodes; but when they were on the landing, Célestin remembered the pretty neighbor. "By the way," he said, "what about the little neighbor overhead! Parbleu! she must be at home still, and I won't go away without a look at her." "Nor I, either," added tall Mouillot. "I want to decide whether she's as good-looking as Balivan claims.--Au revoir, Albert! Go on, if you're in a hurry." "No; I still have some time to spare, and I also am curious to see the neighbor. I will go with you, messieurs." "But how shall we get her to open the door?" "That's a simple matter. We will knock, stamp heavily on the floor, and say in a deep voice: 'The water carrier, mamzelle.'--The water carriers always come early, and people open their doors for them, even when they're only half dressed. She'll open for us." And the young men went upstairs, leaving Varinet still asleep, with his olive in his pocket. When they reached the upper landing, they were surprised to find two open doors. "It seems that we shall not have to play water carrier," they said. "Can it be that the pretty neighbor sleeps with her door open? That would indicate the confidence of innocence--or just the opposite. Which door shall we go in?" "Let chance decide." Chance led them into the small room below the loft. There their attention was attracted by the fervent protestations of love repeated by Paul and Elina, who did not hear them enter the room; for lovers, when they are swearing to adore each other, never hear anything else. Thereupon the young men made their comments aloud. "I should say that we had found a nest!" said Mouillot. "Love in a loft! a genre picture," added Albert. "And to think that Balivan extolled his neighbor's virtue!" observed Célestin. "I thought our artist was more sharp-witted than that; but it seems that he doesn't know all the colors yet." The outburst of laughter followed, and warned the lovers at last that there was somebody close at hand.