“He looks like a terrible fool!”
“I don’t care for that—he ithn’t a bit bad-looking.”
When they first entered the room, the villagers did not notice the two Parisian ladies; but when they did see them, they gathered in groups and began to whisper together. Cézarine walked toward them and said with an amiable air:
“We don’t wish to embarrath you, worthy villagerth; we have come to take part in your games.”
“We’re very fond of country life,” said Virginie; “and before buying a farm, we want to know what people do on farms.”
Mère Fourcy’s arrival gave the villagers all the information they desired.
“They’re great ladies from Paris,” she told them. “They have a beautiful house, but they ain’t a bit proud; they decided to pass the night here, so’s to be at the party. You’ll see how polite they are.”
The peasants bowed low to the great ladies; some young gallants of the village, in order to win favor with the strangers at once, began to push one another and exchange fisticuffs, and yelled with delight when one of them fell to the floor.
“Our youngsters are beginning their fooling,” said the old men; and Virginie remarked to her friend:
“If they begin like this, I wonder where they’ll end!”