is name
was given to her because she often dressed in blue. And she made
money, as she was very skillful in everything she did. His impression
was that she was not very well at the present moment; he believed she
was in the family way, but he was not quite sure. Their business was
prospering; and he traveled about exhibiting samples to all the small
traders in the adjoining districts. He had become a sort of traveling
commission-agent for some of the manufacturers, working at the same
time for them and for himself.

"And you--what are you," he said.

I answered him with an air of embarrassment. I explained that I had a
sailing-boat and two yawls in Argenteuil, that I came for a row every
evening, and that, as I was fond of exercise, I sometimes walked back
to Paris, where I had a profession, which--I led him to infer--was a
lucrative one.

He remarked:

"Faith, if I had spondulics like you, I wouldn't amuse myself by
trudging that way along the roads at night--'Tisn't safe along here."

He gave me a sidelong glance, and I asked myself whether he might not
all the same, be a criminal of the sneaking type who did not want to
run any fruitless risk.

Then he restored my confidence when he murmured:

"A little less quickly, if you please. This pack of mine is heavy."

The sight of a group of houses showed that we had reached Asnieres.

"I am nearly at home," he said. "We don't sleep in the shop; it is
watched at night by a dog, but a dog who is worth four men. And then
it costs too much to live in the center of the town. But listen to me,
monsieur! You have rendered me a precious service, for I don't feel my
mind at ease when I'm traveling with my pack along the roads. Well,
now you must come in with me, and drink a glass of mulled wine with my
wife if she hasn't gone to bed, for she is a sound sleeper, and
doesn't like to be waked up. Besides, I'm not a bit afraid without my
pack, and so I'll see you to the gates of the city with a cudgel in my
hand."

I declined the invitation; he insisted on my coming in; I still held
back; he pressed me with so much eagerness, with such an air of real
disappointment, such expressions of deep regret--for he had the art of
expressing himself very forcibly--asking me in the tone of one who
felt wounded "whether I objected to have a drink with a man like
him," that I finally gave way and followed him up a lonely road
towards one of those big dilapidated houses which are to be f