an hour to finish a tinted drawing more carefully.

'What are you going to do afterwards?' asked Claude.

'Oh! I've errands which will take up my whole day.'

The painter was grieved to see that even this friend escaped him. 'All
right, then,' said he; 'in that case I leave you. Shall we see you at
Sandoz's to-night?'

'Yes, I think so; unless I'm kept to dinner elsewhere.'

Both were getting out of breath. The band of embryo architects,
without slackening their pace, had purposely taken the longest way
round for the pleasure of prolonging their uproar. After rushing down
the Rue du Four, they dashed across the Place Gozlin and swept into
the Rue de l'Echaude. Heading the procession was the truck, drawn and
pushed along more and more vigorously, and constantly rebounding over
the rough paving-stones, amid the jolting of the frames with which it
was laden. Its escort galloped along madly, compelling the passers-by
to draw back close to the houses in order to save themselves from
being knocked down; while the shop-keepers, standing open-mouthed on
their doorsteps, believed in a revolution. The whole neighbourhood
seemed topsy-turvy. In the Rue Jacob, such was the rush, so frightful
were the yells, that several house shutters were hastily closed. As
the Rue Bonaparte was, at last, being reached, one tall, fair fellow
thought it a good joke to catch hold of a little servant girl who
stood bewildered on the pavement, and drag her along with them, like a
wisp of straw caught in a torrent.