But Aristide felt some doubts on the point; he had suspicions of some lugubrious farce.

As he did not dare to present himself at his parents' house, he sent his wife thither.
And when Angele returned, she said to him, in her drawling voice: "Your mother expects you; she is not angry at all, she seems rather to be making fun of you.

She told me several times that you could just put your sling back in your pocket." Aristide felt terribly vexed.

However, he ran to the Rue de la Banne, prepared to make the most humble submission.

His mother was content to receive him with scornful laughter.