"Ah! now I understand! I recognize you now!"
"You recognize me?"
"To be sure—you are Monsieur Courbichon."
"That's my name, sure enough! But how——?"
"Pardieu! we met at our friend Blanquette's little party. Dear Monsieur Courbichon! I have been looking for you a long while!"
"You have been looking for me, monsieur? For what, pray?"
"For what? Why, to return your cane."
"But, monsieur, I don't know whether——"
"And your hat too, if you insist upon it; but, as the one you have now is newer, you would lose again by the change. But the cane is certainly yours; do you consider me capable of keeping something that doesn't belong to me,—that is in my possession only as the result of a mistake?"
"Ah! monsieur, I am sensible——"