human
Where are you going so fast? _Bigre!_ seems to me, you're dressed mighty fine for a messenger who stands on the street corner to do errands.
gpt
I am not doing errands to-day, and when a man isn't working he is free to dress as he pleases.
human
That may be! but, still, nobody ever meets us in such a rig, not even on Sunday.
gpt
No, said Jean Ficelle, who had overtaken his two confrères, and joined in the conversation with a bantering leer;
human
I do what I choose! I am not accountable to anyone for my actions, retorted Paul, with an angry glance at Jean Ficelle;
gpt
I don't play the spy on other people, and I care mighty little what is thought of me by people who had better learn to behave themselves, first of all!
human
What an insolent brat he is, the little foundling! cried Jean Ficelle;
gpt
Me? said Sans-Cravate, in surprise;
human
Didn't you hear what he said: 'There are people who had better learn how to behave themselves before they spy on other people?'--He looked at you when he said that.
gpt
I thought you was the one he was looking at.
human
Oh, no! He spotted you.
gpt
Well, one thing's certain, and that is that Paul isn't with Bastringuette, and that I was wrong to think they were together.
human
They ain't together now--that's true. But what is there to prove that they didn't separate just now? Perhaps Bastringuette ain't so far away. I have my ideas. See, I'll give you a comparison: it's like the way a cat insists on staying in a garret because he smells mice there; it's no use to try to drive him out----
gpt
That's where our fine gentleman came from; and perhaps we might be able to find out where he'd been.
human
You think Paul came out of that house, you say?
gpt
Yes, yes, I'm sure of it. I was looking straight ahead, and there was no one coming. And all of a sudden someone came out of that passage, and it was him.