“Very good; go back to Paris and come here to-morrow with a proper wardrobe.”
“I will be very chic. So I don’t dine here to-day?”
“No; you will need time to make your purchases, and you must come back to-morrow.”
“But what about that dear De Belleville, who counts on finding me here?”
“Oh! don’t let that disturb you; I will tell him that you absolutely insisted on going to Paris to change your clothes.”
“’Tis well; I go then, and I return to-morrow.”
“Yes; and I will set about finding you a little place near by.”
“Au revoir then. To-morrow the Baron von Schtapelmerg will do credit to Madame de Belleville.”
Croque took leave of Thélénie, went away by the avenue of lindens, and, overjoyed to have five hundred francs in his pocket, could not resist the temptation to play the windmill with his cane.