So then she said to me, 'Monsieur is delighted to
find his sister so amiable, and I hope she will permit us to pay her
all the attention she deserves. We shall count on her good opinion
after the welcome we mean to give her son. Monsieur is very impatient
to see his nephew.' Madame had little black satin slippers; and her
stockings! my! they were marvels,--flowers in silk and openwork, just
like lace, and you could see her rosy little feet through them. Oh!
she's in high feather, and she had a lovely little apron in front of
her which, Vedie says, cost more than two years of our wages put
together."
"Well done! We shall have to dress up," said the artist laughing.
"What do you think of all this, Monsieur Hochon?" said the old lady
when Gritte had departed.
Madame Hochon made Agathe observe her husband, who was sitting with
his head in his hands, his elbows on the arms of his chair, plunged in
thought.
"You have to do with a Maitre Bonin!" said the old man at last. "With
your ideas, young man," he added, looking at Joseph, "you haven't
force enough to struggle with a practised scoundrel like Maxence
Gilet. No matter what I say to you, you will commit some folly. But,
at any rate, tell me everything you see, and hear, and do to-night.
Go, and God be with you! Try to get alone with your uncle. If, in
spite of all your genius, you can't manage it, that in itself will
throw some light upon their scheme.
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