"We'll change a note for you, monsieur."
While our widower took his purse from under his belt and inspected the contents, the shepherdess said to the pink domino in an undertone:
"My dear, there's our men over yonder, by the door, where we agreed. They're looking for us, no doubt."
"In that case, let's be off, while that tall donkey has his false nose in his purse."
Chamoureau changed a forty-franc piece to pay for his candy, and, when he had received his change, turned to where the two women had stood, flattering himself that his gallantry entitled him to the most delicious reward. But instead of the pink domino, his false nose almost came in contact with the eye of a mustachioed individual, who said to him very sharply:
"For heaven's sake, be careful! Sapristi! do you take my face for a full moon, that you try to bury your nose in it?"
Chamoureau made no reply; he was busily engaged in looking for his conquest; but in vain did he gaze in every direction: his two ladies had vanished.
In his amazement, our Spaniard applied to the woman at the desk.
"Do you know which way they went?"
"Who, monsieur?"