“After dinner I left Gournay and set out in quest of my gentleman; for I was really uneasy. I thought that something must have happened to him, that he had fallen into a hole—there are holes everywhere. I reached this hamlet, and, not knowing where you lived, mesdames, I called my friend—in a heartrending voice; no one answered. Faith! then I rang the bell at rather a fine house, with pilasters topped by great balls tapering to a point. I don’t know what style of architecture that is, but I suspect that it’s the Boulette style. I rang rather violently, no doubt; and as I continued to call this blackguard—I beg pardon, mesdames, I mean this—scamp—it seems that I alarmed the occupants of the house, and four of them came in a body to open the door; there was one gentleman who was armed, and I saw another dancing in the courtyard. A tall woman, with the voice of a sapper and miner, said to me:
“‘What do you want, monsieur, and why are you making all this uproar at my door?’
“Thereupon I assumed an affable manner and replied in honeyed tones:
“‘Do you happen to have here my friend Edmond Didier, with whom I would like to return to Paris?’
“At that, the big man who was armed observed that I was a joker, that it was probably a prearranged scene, and the tall woman said:
“‘I don’t like jokes of this kind; I call it downright impertinent.’
“And they immediately shut the door in my face, just as the little man who was dancing posed as Zéphir.”
“Monsieur must have called at Madame Droguet’s!” said Agathe, laughingly.
“Ah! that lady’s name is Droguet, is it? it is well suited to her.—Appalled by my inhospitable reception, I walked on through the streets, shouting exactly like a crier announcing the loss of some object or the approach of the day when taxes must be paid; in villages they never fail to make that announcement, in order to stimulate the zeal of the taxpayers. But your servant came to my rescue, madame, and guided me here.”
“And now, Freluchon, I will reply to your reproaches in very few words. I certainly intended to join you, but these ladies had the extreme kindness to invite me to dine with them. Tell me now, if you had been in my place, would you not have done exactly as I did, and accepted?”