“Because there’s a young gentleman running all about the neighborhood, shouting at the top of his lungs:
“‘Edmond Didier, where are you? if you are not killed or eaten, answer me! I am waiting for you! I am waiting for you! I am waiting for you!’ ”
“What does this mean?” demanded Honorine, while Edmond hung his head and stammered in dire confusion:
“Mon Dieu, mesdames, I beg your pardon most humbly; I remember now that I came here with a friend of mine.”
“And you have not thought of him since morning! Oh! the poor fellow!”
“Do not pity him, madame; I arranged to meet him at Gournay, to eat a matelote; but it gave me so much pleasure to remain with you——”
“That you left your friend to his own devices.”
“He will have eaten his matelote without me—that’s all.”
“But you see that he is anxious about you, since he is rushing about the country calling you.—Try to overtake this gentleman, Poucette, and bring him back with you; tell him that the person he is looking for is here.”
“Very well, madame. I’ll find him; he’s yelling loud enough, so that you can hear him a long way.”