"Let us go and drink," repeated Gigi. "You have a sensible thought
sometimes. I think this man is an engineer, or an architect. He wants
a draughtsman's table."

"Evil befall his little dead ones, whatever he is," returned the
other, by way of welcome to the young man who had moved into the
palace.

"He advanced me ten francs to buy wood for the shelves," said Gigi,
who was by far the more cheerful of the two.

"Come and drink," returned Toto, relevantly or irrelevantly. "That is
much better."

So they turned into the wine shop.





CHAPTER V




Baron Volterra introduced Marino Malipieri to the two ladies. The
guest had come punctually, for the Baron had looked at his watch a
moment before he was announced, and it was precisely eight o'clock.