“Oh, no! he not good; but me beat him, me whip him if he claw again!”
“I am speaking of your master.”
“Oh! me tink it was my new friend Carabi; he claw my nose. Come, you go in right away.—Little gutter cat! you wait there till me come back. Don’t stir, or me take Zima!”
When he reappeared before Monsieur Malberg, Georget was sad, and seemed embarrassed; he kept his eyes on the floor, and dared not speak.
“Well, Georget, you have come to bring me your mother’s answer,” said Monsieur Malberg; “but to look at you one would think that you dared not tell me what it is.”
“Ah! monsieur, you see——”
“Mon Dieu! I will spare you the trouble of telling me, for I will wager that I can guess what your mother answered: she refused my offer, because she would have to part with you, and she prefers to live in poverty and not leave her son; isn’t that it?”
“Yes, monsieur, yes, that’s the truth; when I told her about monsieur’s offer, she was struck dumb at first; and when she did answer, I heard her voice trembling as if she were going to cry, when she said: ‘Well! if you want me to go away, if it bores you to live with your mother, why then I will go to this fine place in the country; but for my part, I should much prefer to live on a little, to be less comfortable, and to be where I could embrace my son every day; that would make me much happier!’—So then, monsieur, as you can imagine, I threw my arms about my mother’s neck and said to her: ‘It was in the hope of assuring your happiness that I offered you this; if you are happier with me, you must stay here, and I shall be happier too!’—Then she told me to come and thank you for your kindness, monsieur, and explain the reason for her refusal, and I beg you to forgive me for showing so little appreciation of your kindness; for in all this it is I who am most to blame. If I had had the courage to leave Paris, why, then my mother would have been very glad to go!”
“I don’t blame you, Georget, but I hope that your flower girl is worthy of the sacrifice you are making for her. Go, my boy.”
“And monsieur doesn’t want Violette to bring him a bouquet, so that—so that he can make her acquaintance.”