“You must not repeat them. Seso is her friend.”
Mousarion bit her lips; but Seso had already taken the alarm.
“What did they say about her?”
“Oh! various ill-natured things.”
“Let people talk,” declared Seso. “We three together are not worth Chrysis. The day she decides to leave her quarter and shew herself at Brouchion, I know of some of our lovers whom we shall never see again.”
“Oh! Oh!”
“Certainly. I would commit any folly for that woman. Be sure that there is none here more beautiful than she.”
The three girls had now arrived in front of the Ceramic Wall. Inscriptions written in black succeeded one another along the whole length of its immense white surface. When a lover desired to present himself to a courtesan, he had merely to write up their two names, with the price he offered; if the man and the money were approved of, the woman remained standing under the notice until the lover re-appeared.
“Look, Seso,” said Tryphera, laughing.
“Who is the practical joker who has written that?”