"Ah, rascal, you're as mischievous as a monkey; you think of nothing but increasing your business, and your cold, severe air deceives some people. You're right, by jingo! One must dissemble; it's the essence of intrigue, and I shall try to throw off the appearance of being a libertine and a profligate in order that I may be more successful in wheedling the little innocent." The barber shrugged his shoulders impatiently, and again approached the blade of his razor to Chaudoreille's nose. The latter's face became still paler, except the spots on his cheeks, where the color seemed immovable. "Curse it!" cried Touquet, while holding the end of Chaudoreille's nose between his fingers, to prevent him from moving, while he plied the razor; "can't you ever keep still and refrain from trembling beneath my razor blade? You deserve to be slashed all over your face.--Come, get up; it's finished." "Many thanks," said Chaudoreille, breathing more freely; "I am shaved like a cherubim. Oh, you have a hand as dexterous as it's nimble. That makes seventy-seven shaves that I owe you for." "That's all right; we'll reckon that later." "I know that you'll recall it to me; you're not like the barber who shaved one of my friends on credit, and who made a notch in him every time, to mark the shave, he said." "Before the people come in, let us agree on what we have to do." "Speak on; I am listening while I am washing myself." "You will go, then, to the perfumer's shop, and while buying something--" "Oh, yes; a collar or a ruff." "No matter,--no matter what." "I find that ruffs suit me better." "Hold your tongue, cursed chatterer; there's nobody here to notice your face. You will enter into conversation with the young girl I have depicted; you will say to her that M. le Marquis is in love with her to the point of distraction." "Yes; I shall say to her that he will stab himself before her eyes if she won't meet him." "It's not a question of killing himself, idiot. That's a fine way to seduce a grisette!" "I never seduced them any other way." "Talk about presents, jewelry; they respond to that much quicker." "Each one to his own method; as for me, I never make love that way; for the rest, I'll say everything that you wish; I'll make the marquis as generous and magnificent as a native of Gascony." "Finally, you will demand a rendezvous, in the name of the marquis, for tomorrow evening." "Where shall it be?" "Wherever you like, but preferentially in an unfrequented quarter." "Very well; and after?" "Oh, the rest is my affair." "A moment: if the little one doesn't grant an interview?" "What are you thinking of? A shop girl who knows that she is pleasing to the noble Seigneur de Villebelle--I am certain that she's on tenter-hooks already because no messenger has reached her. You must beware of committing any blunder which will render you unsuccessful."