Part 3 (1/2)
”But, Sylvie, you put their names together as if----”
”As if what?” said Sylvie, bursting into a guffaw. ”The two of them make a pair.”
”It is a strange thing, isn't it, Sylvie, how M. Vautrin got in last night after Christophe had bolted the door?”
”Not at all, madame. Christophe heard M. Vautrin, and went down and undid the door. And here are you imagining that----?”
”Give me my bodice, and be quick and get breakfast ready. Dish up the rest of the mutton with the potatoes, and you can put the stewed pears on the table, those at five a penny.”
A few moments later Mme. Vauquer came down, just in time to see the cat knock down a plate that covered a bowl of milk, and begin to lap in all haste.
”Mistigris!” she cried.
The cat fled, but promptly returned to rub against her ankles.
”Oh! yes, you can wheedle, you old hypocrite!” she said. ”Sylvie!
Sylvie!”
”Yes, madame; what is it?”
”Just see what the cat has done!”
”It is all that stupid Christophe's fault. I told him to stop and lay the table. What has become of him? Don't you worry, madame; Father Goriot shall have it. I will fill it up with water, and he won't know the difference; he never notices anything, not even what he eats.”
”I wonder where the old heathen can have gone?” said Mme. Vauquer, setting the plates round the table.
”Who knows? He is up to all sorts of tricks.”
”I have overslept myself,” said Mme. Vauquer.
”But madame looks as fresh as a rose, all the same.”
The door bell rang at that moment, and Vautrin came through the sitting-room, singing loudly:
”'Tis the same old story everywhere, A roving heart and a roving glance..
”Oh! Mamma Vauquer! good-morning!” he cried at the sight of his hostess, and he put his arm gaily round her waist.
”There! have done----”
”'Impertinence!' Say it!” he answered. ”Come, say it! Now, isn't that what you really mean? Stop a bit, I will help you to set the table. Ah!
I am a nice man, am I not?
”For the locks of brown and the golden hair A sighing lover...
”Oh! I have just seen something so funny----
.... led by chance.”
”What?” asked the widow.