And she ran to the new-comer, seized his hands, then his face, and kissed him again and again, with every indication of the keenest delight.
"Dear Colinet!" she said. "Oh! how glad I am to see you!"
"And I am very glad to see you, Mamzelle Georgette!" the young man replied. "For they told me Paris was so big, I was afraid I wouldn't find you!"
Dupont meanwhile looked on with a strange expression on his face, saying to himself:
"It seems that she lets some people kiss her! More than that, she kissed him first! The devil! the devil! I wonder if I'm nothing better than an old fool! That would be humiliating!"
Georgette took the young man's hand, and leading him into the room presented him to Monsieur Dupont, saying:
"This is a friend of my childhood. We used to play together when we were children—didn't we, Colinet?"
"Yes, Mamzelle Georgette."
"Let us pray that they won't continue to play together, now they're grown up!" thought Dupont, who was forced to admit that the young man was very comely.—"Is monsieur from your province?" he asked.
"Yes, to be sure, and he's just come from there.—Isn't that so, Colinet?"