Part 78 (1/2)

”_Mais, quel bonheur_!” cries she. ”And to meet in the Temple, above all places! Emile, you heard me speak of Monsieur Basil--the gentleman who gave me that lovely shawl that I wore last Sunday to the Chateau des Fleurs--_eh bien_! this is he--and here is Monsieur Muller, his friend.

Gentlemen, this is Emile, my _fiance_. We are to be married next Friday week, and we are buying our furniture.”

The good-looking workman pulled off his cap and made his bow, and we proffered the customary congratulations.

”We have bought such sweet, pretty things,” continued she, rattling on with all her old volubility, ”and we have hired the dearest little _appartement_ on the fourth story, in a street near the Jardin des Plantes. See--this looking-gla.s.s is ours; we have just bought it. And those maple chairs, and that chest of drawers with the marble top. It isn't real marble, you know; but it's ever so much better than real:--not nearly so heavy, and so beautifully carved that it's quite a work of art. Then we have bought a carpet--the sweetest carpet! Is it not, Emile?”

Emile smiled, and confessed that the carpet was ”_fort bien_.”

”And the time-piece, Madame?” suggested the furniture-dealer, at whose door we were standing. ”Madame should really not refuse herself the time-piece.”

Josephine shook her head.

”It is too dear,” said she.

”Pardon, madame. I am giving it away,--absolutely giving it away at the price!”

Josephine looked at it wistfully, and weighed her little purse. It was a very little purse, and very light.

”It is so pretty!” said she.

The clock was of ormolu upon a painted stand, that was surmounted by a stout little gilt Cupid in a triumphal chariot, drawn by a pair of hard-working doves.

”What is the price of it?” I asked.

”Thirty-five francs, m'sieur,” replied the dealer, briskly.

”Say twenty-five,” urged Josephine.

The dealer shook his head.

”What if we did without the looking-gla.s.s?” whispered Josephine to her _fiance_. ”After all, you know, one can live without a looking-gla.s.s; but how shall I have your dinners ready, if I don't know what o'clock it is?”

”I don't really see how we are to do without a clock,” admitted Emile.

”And that darling little Cupid!”

Emile conceded that the Cupid was irresistible.

”Then we decide to have the clock, and do without the looking-gla.s.s?”

”Yes, we decide.”

In the meantime I had slipped the thirty-five francs into the dealer's hand.

”You must do me the favor to accept the clock as a wedding-present, Mademoiselle Josephine,” I said. ”And I hope you will favor me with an invitation to the wedding.”

”And me also,” said Muller; ”and I shall hope to be allowed to offer a little sketch to adorn the walls of your new home.”

Their delight and grat.i.tude were almost too great. We shook hands again all round. I am not sure, indeed, that Josephine did not then and there embrace us both for the second time.

”And you will both come to our wedding!” cried she. ”And we will spend the day at St. Cloud, and have a dance in the evening; and we will invite Monsieur Gustave, and Monsieur Jules, and Monsieur Adrien. Oh, dear! how delightful it will be!”