"If you did not desire this marriage, why did you speak to me about it?"
"Because you know well that I am not really your father, that I have no authority over you, that you are free."
"Indeed, am I free?" answered Bathilde, laughing.
"Free as air."
"Well, then, if I am free, I refuse."
"Diable! I am highly satisfied," said Buvat; "but how shall I tell it to Madame Denis?"
"How? Tell her that I am too young, that I do not wish to marry, that I want to stop with you always."
"Come to dinner," said Buvat, "perhaps a bright idea will strike me when I am eating. It is odd! my appetite has come back all of a sudden. Just now I thought I could not swallow a drop of water. Now I could drink the Seine dry."
Buvat drank like a Suisse, and ate like an ogre; but, in spite of this infraction of his ordinary habits, no bright idea came to his aid; so that he was obliged to tell Madame Denis openly that Bathilde was very much honored by her selection, but that she did not wish to marry.
This unexpected response perfectly dumfounded Madame Denis, who had never imagined that a poor little orphan like Bathilde could refuse so brilliant a match as her son; consequently she answered very sharply that every one was free to act for themselves, and that, if Mademoiselle Bathilde chose to be an old maid, she was perfectly welcome.