"Thanks, and tire ourselves out, and arrive all drenched—what fun! For my part, I don't like to sweat; it uncurls my hair. Mon Dieu! what a crowd! It's all the rage now; no one is willing to go on foot, and there aren't enough 'buses."
"Belleville! Faubourg du Temple!"
"Ah! here it is! here it is!"
Further evolutions performed by the stout woman, the two boys, and the servant, but with no greater success; there were four vacant seats, but there were other numbers before theirs. The two girls also came forward.
"There's no more room, except on top," said the conductor.
"All right! we don't care; we'll go on top."
"Pardon! ladies are not allowed there."—And the conductor added, with a wink: "It isn't my fault, you know; nothing would suit me better."
"I believe you," said a man in a blouse; "if women were allowed to climb up there, there's lots of men who would pay to be conductors."
"Why do they say that?" the blonde asked her companion; "what good would it do the conductors to have women ride in the three-sou seats?"
"Oh! what a fool you are, Lucie! What! don't you understand?"