"Nor manners either, mademoiselle," rejoined M. Pipelet, in an angry tone, wrathfully brandishing the boot then in progress of repair, and into which he had inserted his left hand and arm. "No! I have no hesitation in declaring, in the face of all mankind, that they are a set of mannerless scoundrels. Why, taking advantage of the darkness of our stairs, they actually carried their indecent violence so far as to lay their audacious fingers upon the waist of my wife. When I first heard the cries of her insulted modesty, I could not restrain myself, and, spite of all efforts to restrain myself, I yielded to the natural impetuosity of my disposition. Yes, I will frankly confess, my first impulse was to remain perfectly motionless."
"But, I suppose, afterwards," said Rigolette, who had much ado to preserve a serious air, "afterwards, M. Pipelet, you pursued them, and bestowed the punishment they so well deserved?"
"I'll tell you, mademoiselle," answered Pipelet, deliberately; "when these shameless ruffians passed before my lodge, my blood boiled, and I could not prevent myself from hastily covering my face, that I might not be shocked by the sight of these luxurious malefactors; but, afterwards, I ceased to be astonished; for well I knew I might expect some sight or sound to shock my senses; full well I was prepared for some direful misfortune ere the day had passed, for I dreamed last night of Cabrion."
Rigolette smiled, while the heavy groans which broke from the oppressed mind of the porter were mingled with blows of his hammer, as he vigorously applied it to the sole of the boot he was mending.
"You wisely chose the wisest part, my dear M. Pipelet, that of despising offences, and holding it beneath you to revenge them; but try to forget these ill-conducted bailiffs, and oblige me by doing me a great favour."
"Man is born to help his fellow man," drawled out Pipelet, in a melancholy and sententious tone; "and he is still further called upon so to do when a good and worthy gentleman, moreover, a lodger in one's house, is concerned."
"What I have to request of you is to carry up to my apartments for me several things I am about to send in, and which are for the Morels."
"Make yourself easy upon that point, monsieur," replied Pipelet. "I will faithfully perform your wishes."
"And afterwards," said Rodolph, mournfully, "you must obtain a priest to watch by a little girl the Morels have lost in the night. Go and give the requisite notification of the death, and bespeak a suitable funeral."
"Make your mind easy, monsieur," replied Pipelet, more gravely even than before; "directly my wife returns, I will go to the mayor, the church, and the traiteur's: to the church, for the soul of the dead; to the traiteur's, for the body of the living," added M. Pipelet, philosophically and poetically. "Consider it done in both cases; my good sir, consider it done."