“Three francs for the table!” cried the auctioneer; “three fifty—fifty-five—sixty!”
The peasants bid five or ten centimes at a time. Honorine offered five francs. The bystanders stared at her in amazement, the peasants were stupefied, the second-hand dealers made wry faces.
The table was knocked down to Madame Dalmont.
“What did I tell you!” muttered Madame Droguet. “These lovely Parisians come here for their furniture!”
After the table came a walnut buffet, very old and in bad condition; the upset price was twelve francs, and there was no purchaser. Honorine took it at that figure. Then there came a lot of dishes, glass and earthenware, which also were knocked down to her.
The Droguet party laughed sneeringly, and the ladies said to one another:
“What! do they want broken bowls and chipped plates, too! The commonest sort of china, and old sauce-pans!”
“Really those ladies will have a pretty lot of housekeeping utensils!”
“For my part, I think it’s disgraceful—disgraceful is the word—to buy such miserable stuff!”
“Oh! how glad I am that I came to see this! it will furnish us with amusement for a long time to come.”