The colonel made no reply. He was casting furious side*
long glances at the stall-holders. Then, hearing M. d'Esoo«
railles and M. La Bouquette laughing loudly in front of one of
the stalls, he ground out between his teeth : ' Ah I it's all very
well for those young fellows 1 They manage to get something
for their money I '

M. d'Escorailles and M. La Bouquette certainly seemed to
be amusing themselves. The ladies at the stalls were strug-
gling to get possession of them. As soon as they had made
their appearance, all hands had beckoned to them and they
were called on every side : ' Monsieur d'Escorailles, you
know that you promised me — ' * Now, Monsieur La Bou-
quette, do buy this little horse of me 1 No ? Well, you
shall buy a doll, then ! Yes, a doll : a doll's exactly wnat
you want ! '

The two young men were walking arm in arm for mutual
protection as they playfully asserted. They advanced radiant,
enraptured through the attacking battalion of petticoats,
greeted with a caressing chorus of sweet voices. Every now
and then they disappeared amidst a wave of bare shoulders,
against which they pretended to defend themselves with little
cries of alarm. And at every stall they allowed themselves to
be attacked. Then they began to affect miserliness and to
assume the most comical expressions of surprise. What ! a
louis for a doll that wasn't worth more than a sou 1 Oh, that
was quite beyond their means 1 Two louis for three pencils !
What! did the ladies want to reduce them to starvation?
The ladies were immensely amused and their pretty laughter
rippled on in flute-like strains. They grew keener than ever,
quite intoxicated by the shower of gold raining around them,
and trebled and quadrupled their prices in their craving for
plunder. They passed the young men on from stall to stall
with significant winks; and such remarks as 'I'll squeesse
them well T or ' You can stick it on with them i were



CLORINDE'S REVENGE 327

bandied about ; remarks which the two young fellows heard
and acknowledged with playful bows. Behind them the ladies
triumphed and boasted one to the other. 