He found Toto dressed and in his atelier. He was looking at Sisera and Jael. Jael had the air and aspect of a stout housemaid nailing carpets down with energy. “How could I have painted that beast?” asked Toto. “She is all flesh, she is an animal, she is like a bull-fighter in a skirt. Imagine a woman like that, and then imagine Célestin.” “Are you going to remove these canvases to your new atelier?” “_Mon Dieu_, no! I will remove nothing that reminds me of this place. I tell you what: I will make you a present of this picture. You can have the water-nymph too.” “Thanks,” said Gaillard in an unenthusiastic voice. “I will not remove them at present; they would remind me too much of all the pleasant times that are gone. I feel very depressed this morning, Toto—I mean Désiré; one cannot get out of old habits in a hurry without shivering.” He looked out of a side window and away over the roofs of Paris. The morning was sitting on the roofs pelting the city with roses; the city grumbled, Gaillard sighed. “Oh, the good times, how they pass! Do you remember, Désiré, the night you won a thousand napoleons at the Grand Club? It is only a month ago, yet it seems a year.” “The night we tied the two cats by the tail and hung them from a lamp-post? Where did De Mirecourt get those cats? He suddenly appeared with them. Do you remember the _sergent-de-ville_ who tried to get them down?” “I had forgotten the incident of the cats. I remember it dimly now—one was a tortoise-shell. Yes, those were pleasant times. Désiré, it is not too late to go back to them; consider your position well before you take this step.” “Come,” said Toto, “I am going.” “But have you said good-by to Mme. la Princesse?” “She would never forgive me for waking her at this hour.” “_Mon Dieu!_ but you have no luggage.” “I have a bag in the hall below.” “Ah, _mon Dieu!_ I hope this is all for the best. So you are going with only a bag? Désiré, have you forgotten Angélique?” “I have three thousand francs in an envelope—it will keep you going. Do try and make it do for six months. Look at me; I have only three thousand for a year.” “I will try. Ah, _mon Dieu!_ I wish I had never seen this day; my heart is heavy. Thanks, I will not open the envelope till I meet Angélique; we will open it together. We are like two children sitting at a feast and pulling crackers; each day is like a cracker tied with dawn-colored ribbon. Sometimes Angélique weeps at the contents of these crackers, sometimes she laughs and claps her hands; she will clap her hands to-day. Come, let us go and follow our fates.” “This is my luggage,” said Toto, picking up a huge Gladstone bag in the hall. Gaillard opened the hall door, and they passed out into the bright morning. The clock of St. Augustin was striking eight; the sparrows were fighting in the sunshine; the earth seemed teeming with life and light and happiness.