The Flower Girl of The Chateau d'Eau Volume Ii Part 30

"Do you know him well?"

"No, thank G.o.d! Why do you ask me that?"

"Oh! not for any reason; that is to say, I was thinking that if he was a friend of yours, he might not lie so much to you, that's all."

"No, he isn't a friend of mine by any means.--By the way, you say that this girl is sick; has she enough money to be well taken care of?"

"Oh! yes, bourgeois; she ain't hard up, she sells all she wants to; and then, she has money put by."

"So much the better; who is taking care of her?"

"Your concierge, Mere Lamort."

"I don't know that one can have much confidence in her as a doctor. I will go myself to see this girl, for what you have told me has aroused my interest in her."

"I am sorry, bourgeois, but that can't be."

"What is it that can't be?"

"You can't go to see Mamzelle Violette, because she forbids it."

"How can she have forbidden it? I have never been there."

"Excuse me, but this is how it is: you see, when I was talking with her this morning, I took the liberty to mention you; I told her that she had a very pleasant neighbor."

"Ah! you say such things about me, do you?"

"That you were my customer.--By the way, bourgeois, shall I take a bouquet to Madame de Grangeville from you to-day?"

"No, no, that's all over; you won't take her any more bouquets--from me at least.--But let us return to the flower girl; you said to her----"

"I said to her: 'you have a very distinguished neighbor, who is--who is no fool.'"

"Really, you don't think me a fool?"

"No, monsieur."

"I am very much flattered that you have such a good opinion of me."

"You are joking; but I know what I'm talking about, I tell you!"

"And this girl doesn't choose to receive me because you told her that I was no fool?"

"Oh! it isn't that. I said: 'If you wish, mamzelle, Monsieur de Roncherolle won't refuse to come now and then to sit with you, and he'll be splendid company for you;' and then I added: 'you can receive him without compromising yourself, because in the first place, he ain't young, in the second place, he's gouty, and in the third place---- '"

"Go on, while you are about it!"

"In short, I meant to say that you didn't look like a rake."

"It is certain that I should find it rather difficult to play that part now.--But this extravagant eulogy of my person did not make your friend disposed to see me?"

"No; she said that she didn't need company, that she preferred to think all by herself."

"In that case, my boy, we will let her alone; we must never annoy anybody, especially the sick."

Monsieur de Roncherolle entered his room, and Chicotin returned to the boulevard, saying to himself:

"Shall I go to Nogent and tell Georget all that has happened? If I do, he won't be able to think badly of Violette any more. On the other hand, if I tell him that she's sick, he'll worry and torment himself; he'll want to come back to Paris and perhaps that will displease his employer.

I think that I'd better wait until Violette is well before I go to see Georget."

But the next day, the young flower girl, very far from being well, had a higher fever and was slightly delirious; she hardly recognized Chicotin when he came to see her. He said to the concierge, when she approached with several jugs in her hand:

"It seems to me that your patient ain't doing very well, Mere Lamort?"

"Oh, yes! oh, yes!"

"What's that? oh, yes? Why she hardly recognized me, and then she says things that don't mean anything."

"It's the delirium going away; but I've got three kinds of herb tea for her and--ah! there's Mirontaine barking; somebody's coming."

And the concierge put her head out of the round window on the sixth floor overlooking the courtyard.

"Who's there? Who do you want?" she cried.

An old man who had entered the house, looked up and answered in a quavering voice which only reached the fourth floor:

"Have you a Monsieur Dupuis in the house?"

"What? What's that? is there a well--_puits_--in the house?"

"He used to be an advocate."

"You say it's your trade?"

"He has several children."

"Are you looking for lodgings?"

"Aren't you coming down?"

"You say that you stuff mattresses? What a miserable voice! I wonder if the man has got a cold in his head!--Ah! there's Mirontaine barking again; I must go down.--Coming!--What a nuisance!"

The concierge went downstairs, and Chicotin, after examining Violette again, shook his head and said to himself:

"I don't know whether it's wise to trust to Madame Lamort's three kinds of tea; I don't know much about such things myself, but I see well enough that this poor girl has a devil of a fever. No matter what happens, I shall go down and fetch the old fellow from the floor below."

Chicotin went down to Roncherolle's room, and found him all ready to go out.

"Have you come again to see if you are to carry a bouquet to the baroness?" he asked with a smile; "I told you that that was all gone by; I shan't have any more bouquets to send to anybody."