En Jerusalem entrera
Et mont Olivet montera.'
Presently Lotte passed them again, modestly dropping her eyes, but the sergeant caught her by the waist and tried to pull her to his knee. She pushed him away, broke loose, and fled. He jumped up, caught her and kissed her cheek, his lips still wet with wine. The girl screamed, dropped the pitcher she was carrying, and struck the Frenchman so hard a blow that for a moment he was stunned, at which there was a general laugh.
'Well done, wench!' cried the goldsmith. 'By St. Gervaso, I ne'er saw a heartier smack, nor one more seasonably applied.'
Groguillioche tried to restrain his companion.
'Let her alone. Don't make a fool of yourself,' he said.
But the Gascon was flown with wine, and, laughing with a laugh that was but at one side of his mouth, he cried:—
'That's your way, is it, my beauty? Ventre bleu! next time it shall not be on your cheek, but fair on your lips.'
Upsetting the table, he sprang after her, captured her, and would have executed his threat, had not the powerful hand of Scarabullo seized him by the throat.
'Ha! son of a dog! Hideous mug of a Frenchman! I'll teach you how to insult the girls of Milan!' and he shook his victim backwards and forwards, nearly choking him.