laimed. "I am not deceived: we
shall have spent six hundred and forty francs all together, and the
Morels will be set up like princes. Here come the shopkeepers; are they
not loaded? Nothing will now be wanting for the family; they will have
everything requisite, even to a gridiron, two newly tinned saucepans,
and a coffee-pot. I said to myself, since they are to have things done
so grandly, let them be grand; and, with all that, I shall not have lost
more than three hours. But come, neighbour, pay as quickly as you can,
and let us be gone. It will soon be noon, and my needle must go at a
famous rate to make up for this morning."

Rodolph paid, and quitted the Temple with Rigolette.

At the moment when the grisette and her companion were entering the
passage, they were almost knocked over by Madame Pipelet, who was
running out, frightened, troubled, and aghast.

"Mercy on us!" said Rigolette, "what ails you, Madame Pipelet? Where are
you running to in that manner?"

"Is it you, Mlle. Rigolette?" exclaimed Anastasie; "it is Providence
that sends you; help me to save the life of Alfred."

"What do you mean?"

"The darling old duck has fainted. Have mercy on us! Run for me, and get
me two sous' worth of absinthe at the dram-shop,--the strongest, mind;
it is his remedy when he is indisposed in the pylorus,--that generally
sets him up again. Be kind, and do not refuse me, I can then return to
Alfred; I am all over in such a fluster."

Rigolette let go Rodolph's arm, and ran quickly to the dram-shop.

"But what has happened, Madame Pipelet?" inquired Rodolph, following the
porteress into the lodge.

"How can I tell, my worthy sir? I had gone out to the mayor's, to
church, and the cook-shop, to save Alfred so much trotting about; I
returned, and what should I see but the dear old cosset with his legs
and arms all in the air! There, M. Rodolph," said Anastasie, opening the
door of her dog-hole, "say if that is not enough to break one's heart!"

Lamentable spectacle! With his bell-crowned hat still on his head, even
further on than usual, for the ambiguous castor, pushed down, no doubt,
by violence, to judge by a transverse gap, covered M. Pipelet's eyes,
who was on his back on the ground at the foot of his bed. The fainting
was over, and Alfred was beginning to make some slight gesticulations
with his hands, as if he sought to repulse somebody or something, and
then he tried to push off this troublesome visor, with w