"You are treading on my foot, monsieur!" "Why do you put your feet on the ground? in a crowd like this, you should stand on the air or perch on your neighbors." "Oh! look yonder, Bahuchet! there's a lady with a mask!" "Because she is ugly; that is why she doesn't choose to show her face." "Or else she is here on the sly." "Look you! I prefer to look at the faces of those two little hussies in blue caps." "Yes, they are very pretty; but I know them by sight; they come here to meet a couple of pages; I often meet them walking with their lovers on the Pré-aux-Clercs." "I say, Plumard, do you know whether they are going to broil any cats in the fire to-night?" "Why, no; don't you see that there isn't a single basket hung on the great tree?" "Well, if they have stopped burning cats, there's no more sport! That's the way that all our noblest customs are being allowed to fall into decay! If I had known that, I'd have brought a bag of mice!" "Do you sell mice?" "No; but my landlord is very fond of them, for his house is always full; I believe he eats them." The two young blades who were conversing thus in the midst of the crowd as unconcernedly as if they were alone were two attorney's clerks, but of the class that one meets more frequently in the streets, in front of shops and open-air theatres, than in the employer's office; genuine idlers, who, in the excitement of playing a joke on some passer-by, entirely forget the errand on which they have been sent, important though it may be, and who always remain under clerks, unless their parents have the means to buy them an office. Bahuchet was very short--less than four feet nine; he had a wretched figure, in addition to his shortness, and an ugly face as well; his forehead was low, his too retroussé nose displayed two nostrils of enormous size, which played a very important rôle in his countenance; his mouth was too wide and his eyes too narrow; but in those small eyes there was an intelligent and mocking expression, which his cunning smile intensified. Monsieur Bahuchet, albeit he was always disposed to laugh at other people, took in very bad part the jests that were aimed at his person; he lost his temper very easily. As a general rule, short men are much more choleric than tall ones; why? Rabelais will give you the explanation, which I dare not quote here. Plumard, Bahuchet's friend and usual companion, measured just the five feet necessary for military service; but beside his comrade he considered himself a fine figure of a man, and ostentatiously looked down on him. Monsieur Plumard, while he was not handsome, was less ugly than Bahuchet; he had a nose of respectable appearance; an ordinary mouth, but of modest dimensions; and his eyes, level with his face, might have attracted attention by their size had it not been that they did so first of all by the utter idiocy of their expression. But all that did not prevent Monsieur Plumard from esteeming himself a very good-looking youth.