"Yes, to be sure it’s I."
"What has become of you since the day before yesterday, that I haven’t laid eyes on you, monsieur? And all this style? this cabriolet? Have you made yourself a duke and peer while riding?"
"Let us go upstairs, Fifine; I can’t endure to talk in the hall—it’s very bad form!"
"Oh! mon Dieu! His Highness is afraid of compromising himself! Ha! ha! ha! Pardon me, Your Excellency; if I had known at what hour you would return, I would have cut my candle in four pieces to illuminate the staircase."
Robineau went upstairs, and entered his room, followed by the young milliner, who still held her candle in her hand. Robineau threw himself carelessly on a chair, and Fifine held her light to his face, saying:
"I say—what is the meaning of this coat? I didn’t know that you had any coat except the one that used to be black, and the threadbare gray."
"Well! now you know that I have another—that’s all."
"And this gold chain! these watch charms!—Ah! something must have happened."
"Yes, Fifine, there has been a very great change in my circumstances since the day before yesterday."
"Really! Have they given you a bonus of a hundred crowns?"