"One never sees him now; I must go and rout him out." The lover was Goujet.

He avoided, in fact, calling too often for fear of being in the way, and also of causing people to talk.

Yet he frequently found a pretext, such as bringing the washing; and he would pass no end of time on the pavement in front of the shop.

There was a corner right at the back in which he liked to sit, without moving for hours, and smoke his short pipe.

Once every ten days, in the evening after his dinner, he would venture there and take up his favorite position.