He returned from it, passed by the theater, turned the corner of the Galerie Saint-Marc and ventured as far as the Galerie Montmartre, where a sugar-chopping machine in front of a grocer's interested him awhile.

But when he was taking his third turn he was seized with such dread lest Nana should escape behind his back that he lost all self-respect.

Thereupon he stationed himself beside the fair gentleman in front of the very theater.

Both exchanged a glance of fraternal humility with which was mingled a touch of distrust, for it was possible they might yet turn out to be rivals.

Some sceneshifters who came out smoking their pipes between the acts brushed rudely against them, but neither one nor the other ventured to complain.