The young man began to swim, and seizing the floating stick in his mouth, like a dog, he brought it ashore, and then climbing the bank he kneeled on one knee to present it.
Yvette took it. "You are handsome," said she, and with a friendly stroke, she caressed his hair.
A stout woman indignantly exclaimed: "Are such things possible!"
Another woman said: "Can people amuse themselves like that!"
A man remarked: "I would not take a plunge for that sort of a girl."
She again took Belvigne's arm, exclaiming in his face: "You are a goose, my friend; you don't know what you missed."
They now returned. She cast vexed looks on the passers-by. "How stupid all these people seem," she said. Then raising her eyes to the countenance of her companion, she added: "You, too, like all the rest."
M. de Belvigne bowed. Turning around she saw that the Prince and the Chevalier had disappeared. Servigny, dejected and dripping, ceased playing on the trumpet, and walked with a gloomy air at the side of the two wearied young men, who also had stopped the drum playing. She began to laugh dryly, saying:
"You seem to have had enough; nevertheless, that is what you call having a good time, isn't it? You came for that; I have given you your money's worth."
Then she walked on, saying nothing further; and suddenly Belvigne perceived that she was weeping. Astounded, he inquired: