ho were always
wrangling, and the Pole, the fellow-countryman of Copernicus, with his
planetary system on pasteboard, an itinerant astronomer whose lecture
had been paid for by a dinner in the refectory, then a terrible debauch
while they were out on a walking excursion, the first pipes they had
smoked, the distribution of prizes, and the delightful sensation of
going home for the holidays.

It was during the vacation of 1837 that they had called at the house of
the Turkish woman.

This was the phrase used to designate a woman whose real name was
Zoraide Turc; and many persons believed her to be a Mohammedan, a Turk,
which added to the poetic character of her establishment, situated at
the water's edge behind the rampart. Even in the middle of summer there
was a shadow around her house, which could be recognised by a glass bowl
of goldfish near a pot of mignonette at a window. Young ladies in white
nightdresses, with painted cheeks and long earrings, used to tap at the
panes as the students passed; and as it grew dark, their custom was to
hum softly in their hoarse voices at the doorsteps.

This home of perdition spread its fantastic notoriety over all the
arrondissement. Allusions were made to it in a circumlocutory style:
"The place you know--a certain street--at the bottom of the Bridges." It
made the farmers' wives of the district tremble for their husbands, and
the ladies grow apprehensive as to their servants' virtue, inasmuch as
the sub-prefect's cook had been caught there; and, to be sure, it
exercised a fascination over the minds of all the young lads of the
place.

Now, one Sunday, during vesper-time, Frederick and Deslauriers, having
previously curled their hair, gathered some flowers in Madame Moreau's
garden, then made their way out through the gate leading into the
fields, and, after taking a wide sweep round the vineyards, came back
through the Fishery, and stole into the Turkish woman's house with their
big bouquets still in their hands.

Frederick presented his as a lover does to his betrothed. But the great
heat, the fear of the unknown, and even the very pleasure of seeing at
one glance so many women placed at his disposal, excited him so
strangely that he turned exceedingly pale, and remained there without
advancing a single step or uttering a single word. All the girls burst
out laughing, amused at his embarrassment. Fancying that they were
turning him into ridicule, he ran away; and, as Frede