Monsieur Cherami. Paul de Kock

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СКАЧАТЬ great hurry to get to some railroad station, or to the point where they could take stages for some more or less distant destination.

      So that there was a great crowd at the office by Porte Saint-Martin, and the clerk whose duty it was to distribute tickets did not know which way to turn; he had to be constantly on the alert, in order to avoid mistakes, especially as the travellers did not always confine themselves to asking for an exchange check or a number, but added irrelevant reflections, questions, and, in many cases, complaints.

      "An exchange check for La Villette."

      "Here you are, monsieur."

      "When do we start?"

      "When the 'bus comes, monsieur."

      "Will it be long before it comes?"

      "I don't think so, monsieur."

      "A ticket for Belleville, please."

      "Here it is, madame."

      "Ah! mon Dieu! number seventy-five! Are there seventy-four ahead of me?"

      "No, madame; we begin at fifty."

      "Then there are twenty-five ahead of me?"

      "Some of them haven't waited; they won't answer the call, and that puts the others ahead."

      "A check for Saint-Sulpice."

      "Here you are."

      "Where's the 'bus?"

      "It will come along."

      "Oh! I've got to wait; that isn't very pleasant."

      "Dame! monsieur, we can't have 'buses ready to start every minute."

      "Why not? It would be much pleasanter for the passengers; but nothing is ever done to please the passengers; I must complain to the management."

      "Complain, if you choose, monsieur; that's none of our business."

      "Why, yes, it is your business, too; it ought to be your business, as you're the one we deal with. What sort of a way is that to answer? Is that the way you treat passengers here? It seems to me that you ought to show more respect."

      The man who is going to La Villette approaches the clerk once more.

      "Tell me, have I got time to go to the pastry-cook's to buy a cake?"

      "Why, monsieur, no one interferes with your going.—Here's the Grenelle 'bus—passengers for Grenelle—take your places!"

      "I ask you if I have got time to go to get a cake before my 'bus comes?"

      "Place des Victoires! All aboard for Place des Victoires!"

      "Tell me about getting my cake!"

      "Yes, monsieur; yes, yes, go to the pastry-cook's!"

      And the clerk turns to his comrade, muttering:

      "What a nuisance the fellow is with his cake!—Where should we be if everybody asked questions like that?"

      A woman, of forty years or thereabout, who could not easily have found a compartment large enough to hold her, entered the office, leading two small boys, one of eight and one of four years, who were dressed like the little trained dogs that do tricks on the boulevards, and whose noses had evidently been overlooked because of their hurried departure from home.

      A servant, laden with an enormous basket, from which protruded divers fishes' tails and bunches of leeks, and with an insecurely tied pasteboard box, bulging as to the sides and split in several places, sulkily followed her mistress, hitting everybody with her basket and box, without a word of apology, but apparently rather inclined to make wry faces at her victims.

      "I want two seats for Romainville, monsieur—for me and my maid; my boys don't pay, because we hold them in our laps."

      "Madame, this boy is certainly more than five; he must pay."

      "But, monsieur, I tell you, I hold him in my lap; so we only fill one seat."

      "That must annoy your neighbors."

      "I don't suppose people ride in omnibuses to be comfortable!—Aristoloche, where are you going? Stay with your nurse, sir! Adelaide, do look out for the child; you know how fretful he is!"

      Mademoiselle Adelaide, who looked more like a cook than a lady's maid, had gone with her packages and planted herself on a bench, between an old gentleman and an old woman, causing them to jump into the air as if they were elastic. The shock was so violent that the old woman shrieked, thinking that she had been electrified. The man, irritated beyond words by the manner in which the servant had plumped down beside him, and perceiving that the fishes' tails which protruded from her basket were caressing the sleeves of his coat, pushed the basket away with his elbow, exclaiming:

      "What sort of way is that to sit down, throwing yourself onto people? Pay attention to what you are doing, mademoiselle, and be good enough to move your basket; I have no desire to have your fish rub against my sleeves and make them smell like poison."

      "What! what do you say? What's the matter with the old fellow?"

      "I tell you to move your basket; I don't want it under my nose."

      "Where do you want me to put my basket, eh? On the floor perhaps, so that someone can steal it! Oh, yes! we should have a nice time in the country, where there's never anything to eat. What harm does the basket do you?"

      "It smells like the devil!"

      "Nonsense, it's yourself!"

      "I pity the passengers in the 'bus with you; they'll have a fine time!"

      "Shut up, you old cucumber! you'd like to be as fresh as my fish!"

      The epithet old cucumber touched the old man to the quick; he got up and walked away, muttering:

      "If you weren't a woman, I'd stuff your words down your throat!"

      "Oh, indeed! you'd have plenty to do then, for I feel like saying a good deal more to you."

      "But, Adelaide, I beg you, look out for Aristoloche; he's going out of the office."

      "Well, I can't help it, madame; I can't attend to everything; I have quite enough to do with your box and your basket—and with talking back to this veteran."

      "Veteran! I believe that you had the face to call me veteran!"

      "La Villette—all aboard!—Monsieur, you're for La Villette; hurry up!"

      These words were addressed to the old man who was disputing with Adelaide, and who, as he left, bestowed a crushing glance on the servant, who laughed in his face and administered a cuff to young Aristoloche, the child of four, who, despite his mamma's orders, persisted in trying to leave the office.

II

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