"Will I! Why, you know very well that I should be overjoyed—I who know nothing and have never seen anything. But I shall never dare to ask father to let me go; he would refuse."
"Perhaps so, if you asked him; but if my father, his friend, his comrade, should undertake the mission——"
"Your father! do you think that he would be willing to ask him that?"
"Why not? Father is kind-hearted, he loves me dearly, he sees no harm in his daughter having a little enjoyment sometimes. When it is a respectable kind of pleasure, where is the harm? Because one enjoys one's self a little, does that prevent one from behaving decently. Never fear—I will send him here, to your father, to-morrow, and the day after to-morrow you will come with us."
"Oh! if it might be true!"
"I have made up my mind, and it shall be. I have a will of my own, you see!"
And in fact, on the day following this interview, Master Hugonnet, to gratify his daughter's wish, betook himself to his confrère Landry's shop, and, while emptying a jug of wine with him, said:
"I have a request to make of you, comrade."
"Speak; you know that if I can be of service to you in any way, I am at your disposal—I and my old blade, which is still serviceable at need!"
"Oh! I know the worth of your blade and the strength of your arm, but there is no question of them in what I have to ask.—You know that my girl is a friend of yours, that it is her greatest joy to be with her—for they have known each other a number of years; they were children when their acquaintance began; but now they are big girls, and their friendship has grown like their bodies!"