"What! here, in the office? You had better put it on at home."
"No! there are only we two in the office as yet, and I do not want to postpone making use of it."
"You don't imagine, I suppose, that your hair will grow instantly? You must give the stuff time to act on the capillary tissues."
"Very good; but the sooner I put some of it on my head, the sooner the hair will grow.—By the way, is there any particular way of using it?"
Bahuchet reflected a few moments, then replied:
"Yes; wait till I recall the old witch's instructions.—Ah! now I have it: first heat the pomade, then rub your skull with it, put on a good lot; then you must cover it with a small round piece of linen, cotton, or woollen stuff—the material is not important; you must simply be sure that the pomaded part is well covered. Then, in a few days you will see your hair!"
"Very well! I will follow your instructions to the letter; I will warm it on the stove. But what in the devil shall I put on my head to cover the pomade?"
"See—there's an old black woollen stocking that Maître Bourdinard's servant must have left here by mistake; you can cut a cap out of that."
"Faith! you are right; I shall look like a little abbé. Come, let us set to work!"
Bahuchet cut from the stocking a round piece large enough to cover the top of Plumard's head; meanwhile, the latter daubed his head with the mixture, which the heat had melted; he noticed with surprise that he could not free his fingers from the pomade after he had used it; but Bahuchet told him that that was a proof of the virtue of the cosmetic. At last, the clerk's head being sufficiently pomaded, the piece of woollen stocking was applied, and the operation was at an end. The clerk then covered his head with the cap which he hardly ever laid aside.