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In the meanwhile, two other maskers in the same car-
riage, a Spaniard with an enormous nose, an elderly air, and
huge black moustache, and a gaunt fishwife, who was quite
a young girl, masked with a loup,[67] had also noticed the
wedding, and while their companions and the passers-by
were exchanging insults, they had held a dialogue in a low
voice.
[67] A short mask.
Their aside was covered by the tumult and was lost in
it. The gusts of rain had drenched the front of the vehi-
cle, which was wide open; the breezes of February are not
warm; as the fishwife, clad in a low-necked gown, replied to
the Spaniard, she shivered, laughed and coughed.
Here is their dialogue:
‘Say, now.’
‘What, daddy?’
‘Do you see that old cove?’
‘What old cove?’
‘Yonder, in the first wedding-cart, on our side.’
‘The one with his arm hung up in a black cravat?’
‘ Ye s .’
‘Wel l? ’
‘I’m sure that I know him.’
‘A h! ’
‘I’m willing that they should cut my throat, and I’m ready
to swear that I never said either you, thou, or I, in my life, if
I don’t know that Parisian.’ [pantinois.]
‘Paris in Pantin to-day.’
‘Can you see the bride if you stoop down?’