"Yes, veritably!" said Rosédès. "Au revoir, Pippand!"
"Do not omit to come to our wedding," added Samouard. "You shall have fried fish and quiche lorraine served by S. Gamgès. Monsieur could not refuse that."
He and Rosédès left arm in arm.
"Yes, monsieur could!" growled Pippand to himself. He glared after the happy couple, sighed, finished the mushrooms, and left.
As he walked down Rue Baguechotte, he saw Otto de Sacqueville-Danglars, Samouard's bo'sun, chatting with Buttrebeurrousse, the hôtelier of that fine bistro, Le pony prançant.
"Monsieur Morrie bestows all his favor upon Gamgès," hissed Sacqueville-Danglars. "It is Gamgès, that insolent young gardener, who receives the command of the Pharazon, and will quite probably gain Fin de Blague as well."
"It's true that he is at times of an arrogance..." replied Buttrebeurrousse. "Just now he was offering me advice on potato-growing as if he were a maître d'. But fortune smiles on him, and will continue to do so."
"Perhaps it will," replied Sacqueville-Danglars. "Unless..." Seeing Pippand, he smiled broadly. "You look out of sorts, mon ami," he cried gaily.
