balusters detached from its wire fastening. Presently, however, he
raised his head. "Well, for my part," he said, "I looked upon it all as
an excellent joke."

"Looked upon what as a joke?" asked Lisa, still quivering with
indignation.

"The inspectorship."

She raised her hands, gave a last glance at Florent, and then sat down
upon the cushioned bench behind the counter and said nothing further.
Gavard, however, began to explain his views at length; the drift of his
argument being that it was the Government which would look foolish in
the matter, since Florent would be taking its money.

"My dear fellow," he said complacently, "those scoundrels all but
starved you to death, didn't they? Well, you must make them feed you
now. It's a splendid idea; it caught my fancy at once!"

Florent smiled, but still persisted in his refusal. Quenu, in the hope
of pleasing his wife, did his best to find some good arguments. Lisa,
however, appeared to pay no further attention to them. For the last
moment or two she had been looking attentively in the direction of the
markets. And all at once she sprang to her feet again, exclaiming, "Ah!
it is La Normande that they are sending to play the spy on us now! Well,
so much the worse for La Normande; she shall pay for the others!"

A tall female pushed the shop door open. It was the handsome fish-girl,
Louise Mehudin, generally known as La Normande. She was a bold-looking
beauty, with a delicate white skin, and was almost as plump as Lisa,