step whistling with a vengeance:

"Quand je quittai la Normandie
J'attends--j'attends--"

a refrain which the occasion brought to his mind. When this pastime was
exhausted he had recourse to another, the nature of which proved that if
the expected beauty had not punctuality for a virtue, she was not one of
those little exacting creatures always ready to faint or whose delicate
nerves make them intolerant of their lovers' imperfections. Plunging his
hand into one of the pockets in his redingote, the waiting cavalier drew
out a sealskin case filled with Havana cigars, and, lighting one, began
to smoke, while continuing his promenade.

But at the end of a few moments this palliative, like the first, had
exhausted its effect.

"Twenty-five minutes past eight!" exclaimed Marillac, as he looked
at his watch a second time; "I should like to know what this little
miniature rose takes me for? It was hardly worth the trouble of
over-straining this poor horse, who looks as wet as if he had come out
of the river. It is enough to give him inflammation of the lungs. If
Bergenheim were to see him sweating and panting like this in this bleak
wind, he would give me a sound blowing-up. Upon my word, it is becoming
comical! There are no more young girls! I shall see her appear presently
as spruce and conceited as if she had been playing the finest trick in
the world. It will do for once; but if we sojourn in these quarters some
time yet, she must be educated and taught to say, 'If you please' and
'Thanks.' Ah! ha! she has no idea what sort of man she is dealing with!
Half past eight! If she is not here in five minutes I shall go to La
Fauconnerie and raise a terrible uproar. I will break every bit of
crockery there is in the 'Femme-sans-Tete' with blows from my whip. What
can I do to kill time?" He raised his head quickly, as he felt himself
suddenly almost smothered under a shower of dust. This was a fatal
movement for him, for his eyes received part of the libation destined
for his hair. He closed them with a disagreeable sensation, after seeing
Mademoiselle Reine Gobillot's fresh, chubby face, her figure prim beyond
measure in a lilac-and-green plaid gingham dress, and carrying a basket
on her arm, a necessary burden to maidens of a certain class who play
truant.

"What sort of breeding is this?" exclaimed Marillac, rubbing his eyes;
"you have made me dance attendance for an hour and now you have blinded
me.