"Now, what do you expect to do, chevalier?"
"What! By Venus! follow up the adventure, watch for the little one to come out, join her, declare my passion, soften her heart—a mere trifle! The rest will go of itself."
"No doubt!" muttered Dame Cadichard; "if the girl is a good-for-nothing who listens to the first comer!"
"Whom do you call a first comer, madame? do you dare to apply those words to Castor Pyrrhus de Passedix?—Sandioux! you are pricking me, Popelinette! do be careful!"
"I mean to say, monsieur, that this girl does not know you; and if she is virtuous——"
"Cadédis! all women are virtuous before they have sinned; and since the days of Eve, who allowed herself to be tempted by a serpent, how many women have stumbled—— Oh! this old woman is determined to spit me like a roasted hare!"
"But in order to watch for this Italian," observed the Spaniard, "it is necessary first of all that you should know where she lives in Paris."
"Oh! I know that; I know where Miretta is at this moment; I even know why she has come to Paris. I am perfectly informed—but upon this matter you will allow me to keep silent. The little one is too dainty a morsel for me to show her nest to other men, and I am sure that you will consider that I am right to act thus."
The foreigner rose and bowed to the Gascon.
"Good luck in your love affairs, Chevalier Passedix!"