riviere!"

"Look!" said Mueller. "Do you not see them yonder--two women under the
trees? By Jupiter! it's _ma tante_ and _la petite_ Marie!"

Saying which, he flung himself upon his oars and began pulling
vigorously towards the shore.

CHAPTER XXV.

THAT TERRIBLE MUeLLER.

La petite Marie broke off at the sound of our oars, and blushed a
becoming rose-color.

"Will these ladies do us the honor of letting us row them back to
Courbevoie?" said Mueller, running our boat close in against the sedges,
and pulling off his hat as respectfully as if they were duchesses.

Mademoiselle Marie repeated the invitation to her aunt, who accepted it
at once.

"_Tres volontiers, tres volontiers, messieurs_" she said, smiling and
nodding. "We have rambled out so far--so far! And I am not as young as I
was forty years ago. _Ah, mon Dieu_! how my old bones ache! Give me thy
hand, Marie, and thank the gentlemen for their politeness."

So Mam'selle Marie helped her aunt to rise, and we steadied the boat
close under the bank, at a point where the interlacing roots of a couple
of sallows made a kind of natural step by means of which they could
easily get down.

"Oh, dear! dear! it will not turn over, will it, my dear young man?
_Ciel_! I am slipping ... Ah, _Dieu, merci_!--Marie, _mon cher enfant_,
pray be careful not to jump in, or you will upset us all!"

And _ma tante_, somewhat tremulous from the ordeal of embarking, settled
down in her place, while Mueller lifted Mam'selle Marie into the boat, as
if she had been a child. I then took the oars, leaving him to steer; and
so we pursued our way towards Courbevoie.

"Mam'selle has of course seen the fair?" said Mueller, from behind the
old lady's back.

"No, monsieur,"

"No! Is it possible?"

"There was so much crowd, monsieur, and such a noise ... we were quite
too much afraid to venture in."

"Would you be afraid, mam'selle, to venture with me?"

"I--I do not know, monsieur."

"Ah, mam'selle, you might be very sure that I would take good care of
you!"

"_Mais ... monsieur_"...

"These gentlemen, I see, have been angling," said the old lady,
addressing me very graciously. "Have you caught many fish?"

"None at all, madame!" I replied, loudly.

"_Tiens_! so many as that?"

"_Pardon_, madame," I shouted at the top of my voice. "We have caught
nothing--nothing at all."

_Ma tante_ smiled blandly.

"Ah, yes," she said; "and you will have them cooked presently