"Ah! Georget has told you too——"
"Yes, mamzelle, he has told me—mon Dieu! you know well enough what he must have told me,—that he couldn't love you any longer, because you—but no matter—How much for this big bunch, mamzelle?"
"And you believed all that too; you are convinced that I am a girl without honor, without shame?"
"Mamzelle, I give you my word that I didn't believe it right away; no, indeed; and that I didn't want to believe it at all; but when you are certain of a thing—look you, just consider that Georget and I followed that dandified Monsieur Jéricourt a whole day, to make him speak; I begged him to tell me the truth about you."
"Monsieur Jéricourt—well?"
"Well! he called me a fool; he said that when a girl went—How much for this bunch, if you please?"
"Ah! the coward! the villain! but he lied, Chicotin, I swear to you that he lied!"
"Oh! mamzelle, everybody knows that women never admit such things; if only nobody had seen you; but as someone did see you, nothing you can say will make me believe—Well, if you're not crying now! I'm sorry for it, I don't like to make anybody cry; but it ain't my fault; I didn't say a word about this; it was you who would talk about it; it worries me to see you cry, and I'll go away, as you won't tell me how much this big bunch of violets is."
"Whatever you please," faltered the girl, holding her handkerchief to her eyes.
"Mon Dieu! I can't pay more than twenty sous, mamzelle."