"And my appointment!" thought Albert. "God grant they don't keep us long!"
"It is all Balivan's fault," said Célestin. "With his absent-mindedness, he was perfectly certain to make some blunder."
As for the young artist, he stalked along in the middle of the crowd, thinking:
"Yes, I will paint her with a country scene for a background."
XIX
THE QUARREL AND THE RECONCILIATION
On the day following that on which Elina had asked the messengers about Paul, he returned to his place with his crochets, wearing his jacket and cap; but his face was noticeably paler, his features more drawn, than before his prolonged absence.
The young messenger seated himself in his usual place, nodding to Sans-Cravate and Jean Ficelle, who were there before him. The former abruptly turned his head away when he saw Paul, and clenched his fists with an angry gesture; but Jean Ficelle, on the contrary, assumed his playful expression and walked to Paul's side.
"Hallo! hallo! here's the prodigal son back again! Yes, it's him, sure enough. Is it possible, Paul, that you've come back to sit alongside of us on a street corner? are you going to be a messenger?"
"I have never ceased to be one," replied Paul, looking earnestly at the house in which Elina worked.
"That's a good one! How about the time we met you dressed like a swell? I don't think you was doing errands much just then! You was on a spree, you know, and it seems to have lasted a long while! Ten days of it! Gad! that's a whole carnival, sure enough!"