“Who?” thundered Savin from behind.
“Enough! We shall see,” answered Fadard as he sneaked away like a whipped cur.
Catherine quickly apprised the other girls of Fadard’s discomfiture. To hide his embarrassment, Fadard hastened to ask Jenny Fourès for the next dance. The merriest, liveliest girl in the whole province was Jenny, and the name of “Madcap” just suited her.
“Monsieur,” said she, “it seems to me you are not very polite.”
“How so, Mademoiselle?” asked Fadard.
“When a gentleman asks for a dance he takes off his cap, Monsieur.”
Fadard smiled. In the provinces the peasants, as a rule, wear little skull-caps not unlike the Turkish fez, and in a dance they lend a rather picturesque effect. It is the custom to touch the cap, without removing it, when a man is asking for the pleasure of a dance. But Jenny’s rebuke did not disconcert the gay Fadard in the least. He bowed low, took off his cap, and again besought her for a dance.
A burst of laughter greeted his gallantry.
“I am indeed honored, Monsieur,” remarked Jenny coquettishly, “but I cannot dance without my father’s permission. Go and ask him.”
“Ah, Madcap, you are joking. Come.”