“Well, I have discovered what we need; here, in this house, on the third floor back, there is a rose, a genuine rose!”
“A rose in this vile hovel—and on the back! I am terribly afraid that your rose is only a hip!”
“You will be able to judge for yourself directly. This is the time when the work-girls leave their work; indeed, I am surprised that they haven’t come out yet.”
“And what does this blush rose do?”
“She makes Italian straw hats.”
“Very good; and she is virtuous?”
“Oh! I don’t hold her out as a prize-winner; but she makes a very modest appearance; she is very fond of a little pays[A] of hers, who was obliged to go into the army as a simple tourlourou,[B] and it would make her perfectly happy to be able to save up enough money to marry her little pays when he comes home. So she won’t listen to any of the young men who run after her every night, because she knows that they’re ne’er-do-wells, who won’t help her to set up housekeeping with her little pays.”
[A] A native of the same province.
[B] Infantryman.
“Bravo! the young woman has excellent principles. How did you make her acquaintance? by treating her to chestnuts?”