Meanwhile the evening advanced, and the two lovers, who had not begun to weary of looking at each other, of squeezing each other's hands and of repeating that they would love each other forever, could not make up their minds to part. When Violette said: "I must go in," Georget replied: "Just a minute more." When he expressed a fear that she was cold, she reassured him by saying that the walk would do her good. But Chicotin, who was not in love and who was dying of hunger, waited in vain for his friend to join him at the place he had appointed. Weary of waiting, Chicotin went to the flower market, but found no one there. Then he went to Violette's abode, and asked the concierge if the young flower girl had come home; and Madame Lamort informed him that, after putting her flowers in their place, she had gone out on the arm of a very young and comely man, saying that she would soon return. Chicotin sat down on a carriage stone, muttering: "For a convalescent, Mamzelle Violette is very imprudent, to walk about so long after dark." "That's what I told them!" cried the concierge. "But as Mirontaine barked at that moment, I guess they didn't hear me." Chicotin had been on sentry duty for half an hour, when Monsieur de Roncherolle, on his way to his room, spied him and said: "What are you doing here, my boy?" "I am waiting for my friend Georget, who is walking with Mamzelle Violette, bourgeois." "Ah! so this Georget is----" "The fellow who loves her so dearly, who suspected her of having gone wrong, and who came to-day to beg her pardon, because I went to Monsieur Malberg, your friend's, at Nogent, where he lives----" "To Monsieur Malberg's; you mean the friend who came to see me on Rue de Bretagne?" "Yes, bourgeois." "And who was the cause of my moving!--Look you, Chicotin, if you take it into your head to mention me to your friend again, and to tell him that I live in this house, I warn you that I will pull your ears so that you can cover your nose with them!" "Never fear, bourgeois; I won't mention you; I have no desire to force you to move again." "You will do well." "Ah! here are the lovers coming back at last!" "Then I will go up to my room." "And I am going to supper! I am not sorry for that." XL MORE BOUQUETS Six days after that evening, Monsieur de Brevanne returned to his rooms in Paris, bringing Georget and Pongo. Worthy Mere Brunoy, who enjoyed the country immensely and who was beginning to understand that her son was becoming reasonable enough to be able to do without her, had asked permission to remain at Nogent, where Georget had promised to go to see her twice a week. On the day following his return to Paris, Monsieur de Brevanne went to see Violette and said to her: "My dear child, I am going to give you an errand to do; it is not a dangerous one, for it is a bona fide lady to whom I am sending you." "Oh! monsieur, when it's you who send me, I will go wherever you please."