'll send you to the galleys; I'll go to the police,--justice shall be
done! I won't leave this place till I've got my money."

She made a gesture as if to break the glass before the shelves on which
the valuables were placed.

"Mother Madou takes a drop too much," whispered Celestin to his
neighbor.

The virago overheard him,--for in paroxysms of passion the organs
are either paralyzed or trebly acute,--and she forthwith applied to
Celestin's ear the most vigorous blow that ever resounded in a Parisian
perfumery.

"Learn to respect women, my angel," she said, "and don't smirch the
names of the people you rob."

"Madame," said Madame Birotteau, entering from the back-shop, where she
happened to be with her husband,--whom Pillerault was persuading to
go with him, while Cesar, to obey the law, was humbly expressing his
willingness to go to prison,--"madame, for heaven's sake do not raise a
mob, and bring a crowd upon us!"

"Hey! let them come," said the woman; "I'll tell them a tale that will
make you laugh the wrong side of your mouth. Yes, my nuts and my francs,
picked up by the sweat of my brow, helped you to give balls. There you
are, dressed like the queen of France in woollen which you sheared
off the backs of poor sheep such as me! Good God! it would burn my
shoulders, that it would, to wear stolen goods! I've got nothing but
rabbit-skin to cover my carcass, but it is mine! Brigands, thieves, my
money or--"

She darted at a pretty inlaid box containing toilet articles.

"Put that down, madame!" said Cesar, coming forward, "nothing here
is mine; everything belongs to my creditors. I own nothing but my own
person; if you wish to seize that and put me in prison, I give you my
word of honor"--the tears fell from his eyes--"that I will wait here
till you have me arrested."

The tone and gesture were so completely in keeping with his words that
Madame Madou's anger subsided.

"My property has been carried off by a notary; I am innocent of the
disasters I cause," continued Cesar, "but you shall be paid in course of
time if I have to die in the effort, and work like a galley-slave as a
porter in the markets."

"Come, you are a good man," said the market-woman. "Excuse my words,
madame; but I may as well go and drown myself, for Gigonnet will hound
me down. I can't get any money for ten months to redeem those damned
notes of yours which I gave him."

"Come and see me to-morrow morning," said Pillerault, showi