"'Anyway,' cried the other two, 'do you suppose we're afraid of men? Why, there's nothing frightful about 'em!'
"'If they'd grow, I'd plant a field of them.'
"Whereupon they roared with laughter; but pretty Mignonne took no part in it; she pulled her companions away, crying:
"'Au revoir, Mère Giroux! Au revoir!'
"'What! ain't you going to buy as much as a stick of barley sugar, to suck on the way?'
"'By and by, when we come back; to cool us off.'
"When the girls had gone, the huckster complained more loudly than ever about the nuisance of the fêtes in the neighboring villages. For my part, I was determined to have another look at the blonde whom they called Mignonne, but I desired, first of all, to obtain some information concerning her. I began by buying a huge square of gingerbread, larded with almonds, while loudly praising what I had already eaten. Mère Giroux, flattered to the melting point, gazed at me with an expression that seemed to say:
"'Ah! if all the young men who come to Sceaux only liked gingerbread as much as this gentleman does!'
"'Mère Giroux,' I said, carefully bestowing my new purchase in my pocket, 'you seem to know those young women who went by just now?'
"'Pardi! I know everybody in the neighborhood, I do!'