"'Nothing, for you stayed the night with me; you are my guests.'

"'Oh, madame, we can't have that!'

"And how they set to to make protests and compliments in front of
each other! Old man, you can say what you like--we may be only poor
devils, but it was astonishing, that little palaver of good manners.

"'Come along! Let's be hopping it, eh?'

"They go out one by one. I stay till the last. Just then another
passer-by begins to knock on the window--another who was dying for a
mouthful of coffee. Mariette by the open door leaned forward and
cried, 'One second!'

"Then she put into my arms a parcel that she had ready. 'I had
bought a knuckle of ham--it was for supper--for us--for us two--and
a liter of good wine. But, ma foi! when I saw there were five of
you, I didn't want to divide it out so much, and I want still less
now. There's the ham, the bread, and the wine. I give them to you so
that you can enjoy them by yourself, my boy. As for them, we have
given them enough,' she says.

"Poor Mariette," sighs Eudore. "Fifteen months since I'd seen her.
And when shall I see her again? Ever?--It was jolly, that idea of
hers. She crammed all that stuff into my bag--"

He half opens his brown canvas pouch.