"Is it really him? How finely he's dressed now!"
"Yes, it certainly is him. Don't you see, his nose is still crooked."
"But now he's dressed so fine, that don't look very bad; he has a very stylish air, I tell you."
Cherami approached the two friends, and saluted them with a gracious bow, saying:
"Really, this square is very good to me; for I remember, mesdemoiselles, that it was in front of this same omnibus office that I first had the pleasure of seeing you."
"That is true, monsieur; but we are still simple working-girls, while you, monsieur, you seem to have made your fortune."
"No, mesdemoiselles; I haven't made my fortune. I have just straightened myself out, reformed a bit, and I have found a place which I am determined to fill satisfactorily. Twice before, when I met you, I invited you to dine; and I should have been sadly embarrassed if you had accepted, for I hadn't a sou in my pocket. To-day, my pocket is well lined, and yet I shall not repeat my invitation, because I represent the firm of Grandcourt & Nephew, and, as such representative, I have determined to change my mode of life. But that will not prevent me from offering each of you a bouquet, for the most virtuous man is always at liberty to be gallant."
With that, Cherami purchased, from a flower-girl at the corner, two superb bouquets, which he bestowed upon Mesdemoiselles Laurette and Lucie. Then he saluted them anew and took his leave of them, saying to himself:
"I behaved like Cato! And I am the more inclined to congratulate myself, because, in my new lodgings on Rue de Richelieu, I have, on the same floor, a charming neighbor—well dressed, with a distinguished air—a widow with a modest competence—who has responded to my salutations with the most gracious smiles; and, faith! I have my cue!"