His big, glittering eyes never remained still; and the whole of his spare little figure quivered with incessant exuberance of speech and gesture.
"For you, monsieur--a shave, eh ?" said he.

"I must beg your pardon for keeping you waiting; but my assistant has gone out, and I was in there with my boarders.

If you will kindly sit down, I will attend to you at once." Thereupon, deigning to operate in person, Cazaban began to stir up the lather and strop the razor.

He had glanced rather nervously, however, at the cassock worn by Pierre, who without a word had seated himself in a corner and taken up a newspaper in the perusal of which he appeared to be absorbed.
A short interval of silence followed; but it was fraught with suffering for Cazaban, and whilst lathering his customer's chin he began to chatter: "My boarders lingered this morning such a long time at the Grotto, monsieur, that they have scarcely sat down to _dejeuner_.

You can hear them, eh?
I was staying with them out of politeness.