With that, Paul hurried away, while the two messengers looked at each other with a disappointed expression.
"What an insolent brat he is, the little foundling!" cried Jean Ficelle; "don't that deserve a hiding—when a puppy without any father or mother puts on airs like that? He insulted you again."
"Me?" said Sans-Cravate, in surprise; "how did he insult me, I'd like to know?"
"Didn't you hear what he said: 'There are people who had better learn how to behave themselves before they spy on other people?'—He looked at you when he said that."
"I thought you was the one he was looking at."
"Oh, no! He spotted you."
"Well, one thing's certain, and that is that Paul isn't with Bastringuette, and that I was wrong to think they were together."
Sans-Cravate seemed less distressed; it was evident that his jealousy had partly disappeared. But Jean Ficelle rejoined, with a shrug:
"They ain't together now—that's true. But what is there to prove that they didn't separate just now? Perhaps Bastringuette ain't so far away. I have my ideas. See, I'll give you a comparison: it's like the way a cat insists on staying in a garret because he smells mice there; it's no use to try to drive him out——"
"Sacrédié! Jean Ficelle, you tire me with your comparisons! Come, let's go and see the Francs-Lapins; we are going to spree it a bit, you know. I'm all ready."