“Oh! upon my word! Borrow money of you, of you, mademoiselle! never!” “What! never? what does this mean? Why not of me as well as of anybody else? Don’t you look upon me as your friend, or do you think me a hard-hearted creature, who would not take pleasure in obliging you?” “Oh, no! no! it isn’t that! on the contrary I know very well that you are kind-hearted, that you love to do good; I have often seen you give money to unfortunate people! But it isn’t that; it is--mon Dieu! I don’t know how to express it; it is that I should be ashamed, I should blush to----” “Well, well! you are getting all mixed up. I go straight to the point: Georget, do you want money? I have some here,--fifteen francs, twenty-five francs; it won’t embarrass me in the least.” “Thanks, thanks, mamzelle; I am very grateful; but now it isn’t as it was last night; our position has changed, and we are in funds.” “Is that really true? how does it happen that in so short a time--Georget, if you are deceiving me, it is very wrong; you have no money!” To prove to the flower girl that he was not deceiving her, the messenger told her all that had happened since the evening before. Violette listened with the deepest interest, and her eyes filled with tears at the story of Monsieur Malberg’s kindness. “Ah! that gentleman is a fine man!” cried the girl, almost leaping from her chair. “Suppose I should carry him a bouquet from you; would that please him?” “Oh, no! On the contrary it would make him angry; he doesn’t like to be thanked; I am sure that he would be angry with me, if he knew that I had told you how kind he was.” “That’s a pity; I would like to know him. Does he ever walk in this direction on market day?” “No, I have never seen him here. He’s a man who doesn’t like society, nor noise; and when you don’t know him, why, he hasn’t an agreeable manner, I tell you!” “But when one knows that he is kind and generous, then one ought not to be frightened by his manner.” “No matter, I assure you, mamzelle, that in his presence no one dares to laugh.” “Speaking of laughing, Monsieur Georget, I am going to scold you now.” “Scold me?” “Yes indeed. Oh! it’s of no use for you to assume your innocent air, I was not fooled by what happened yesterday afternoon. The idea of throwing my customers down! that’s very pretty, isn’t it? If you should do that often, I don’t think that I should sell so many bouquets.” “But I didn’t throw anybody down!” “No, not you, but that good-for-nothing Chicotin, who had planned the thing beforehand with you, because he knew that it would please you. Am I right? Come, Georget, answer me--didn’t you plan with Chicotin to throw that gentleman down?” “Not that one, mamzelle, I haven’t any grudge against that one; it was the other one; Chicotin made a mistake.” “One or the other, it was very wrong, monsieur, to run against my customers and overturn almost the whole of my shop.” “But I tell you that Chicotin made a mistake.”