"Upon my word, she is really amusing!" said Auguste, laughingly. "_She!_" repeated the milkmaid in an irritated tone; "how polite these fine gentlemen are! _She!_ Anyone would think we had known each other a long while." "It depends entirely on you whether or not we shall be the best friends in the world in a moment. And to begin with, I must give you a kiss." "No--no, monsieur--none of that sort of thing, if you please.--Oh! look out, or I'll scratch you." Auguste, accustomed to defy such prohibitions, seized the little milkmaid by the waist, and tried to put his lips to her fresh, ruddy cheek; but she defended herself more vigorously than the city ladies do; to be sure, a peasant is less embarrassed by her clothes, she isn't afraid of rumpling them, and her corsets are not so tight that she cannot move her arms; that is the reason no doubt that a kiss is much harder to obtain from a peasant. The kiss was taken at last; but it cost Auguste dear, for he bore below his left eye the marks of two nails which had drawn blood from the Parisian dandy's face. Thus each of the combatants was beaten, for each bore a token of defeat. But the war seemed not to be at an end. Denise, twice as red as she was before the battle, arranged her neckerchief, glaring angrily at the young man; while he put his hand to his face, and, finding blood there, wiped it with his handkerchief, looking at the girl with a less sentimental expression; for those two digs with her nails had cooled his ardor to an extraordinary degree. "I'm glad of it," said the girl at last; "that will teach you to try to kiss a girl against her will, monsieur." "I certainly didn't expect to be treated so. The idea of disfiguring me--just for a kiss!" "If all women did the same, you wouldn't be so forward." "Thank God, they don't all have the same ideas that you have. You hurt me terribly!" "Oh! what troubles you the most is that it will show; you're afraid you won't be so pretty to look at." "No, I assure you that that isn't what I am thinking about. I am sorry that I really made you angry. I realize that I was wrong. Come, Denise, let us make peace." "No, monsieur, no, I don't listen to you any more."