"But if I guarantee that the dinner shall be paid for--money down!"
"Tra la la!"
"You don't believe me? Well, come and see."
With this, he went up to Madame Marotte, who, with her niece, had sat down on a bench under a walnut-tree close by, waiting our pleasure.
"Would not these ladies prefer to rest here, while we seek for a suitable restaurant and order the dinner?" said Müller insinuatingly.
The old lady looked somewhat blank. She was not too tired to go on--thought it a pity to bring us all the way back again--would do, however, as "ces messieurs" pleased; and so was left sitting under the walnut-tree, reluctant and disconsolate.
"Tiens! mon enfant" I heard her say as we turned away, "suppose they don't come back again!"
We had promised to be gone not longer, than twenty minutes, or at most half an hour. Müller led the way straight to the Toison d' Or.
I took him by the arm as we neared the gate.
"Steady, steady, mon gaillard" I said. "We don't order our dinner, you know, till we've found the money to pay for it."