“Ah! monsieur has moved his furniture, I see. Does monsieur mean to leave this couch in his study?”
“No; you may put it back where it belongs; I’ll help you.”
“I see; monsieur has been trying an experiment?”
“That’s like my daughter, who’s forever moving her son’s cradle from one place to another. Last night, she put it beside the bed; but my son-in-law wouldn’t have it there, because the child’s nearly four years old, and it is embarrassing for a husband and wife, when—— Why, your bed’s hardly tumbled at all, monsieur!”
“I suppose that I didn’t move much.”
“Monsieur has already breakfasted, apparently? Monsieur was hungry earlier to-day than usual.”
I made no reply, but dressed to go out, being impatient to leave the house. Madame Dupont stooped and picked up something, which she brought to me with a mischievous air.
“Here’s a little cross à la Jeannette, monsieur, that I just found beside your bed.”
“Ah! give it to me, Madame Dupont, give it to me; I know what it is, I bought it yesterday. I have got to send it to someone; it’s to go into the country, to our farmer’s daughter.”