“Come up here,” she called out to him, and from habit she added:  “I will be very nice, you handsome dark fellow.”

At first they were dumbfounded at her audacity, and then all their cheeks flushed with jealousy, and the flame of mad desire shot from their eyes, from every window there came a perfect torrent of: 

“Yes, come up, come up.”  “Don’t go to her!  Come to me.”

And, meanwhile, there was a shower of half-pence, of francs, of gold coins, as well as of cigars and oranges, while lace pocket handkerchiefs, silk neckties, and scarfs fluttered in the air and fell round the singer, like a flight of many colored butterflies.

He picked up the spoil calmly, almost carelessly, stuffed the money into his pocket, made a bundle of the furbelows, which he tied up as if they had been soiled linen, and then raising himself up, and putting his felt hat on his head, he said: 

“Thank you, ladies, but indeed I cannot.”

They thought that he did not know how to satisfy so many demands at once, and one of them said:  “Let him choose.”

“Yes, yes, that is it!” they all exclaimed unanimously.

But he repeated:  “I tell you, I cannot.”

They thought he was excusing himself out of gallantry, and several of them exclaimed, almost with tears of emotion:  “Women are all heart!” And the same voice that had spoken before, (it was one of the girls who wished to settle the matter amicably), said:  “We must draw lots.”

“Yes, yes, that is it,” they all cried.  And again there was a religious silence, more religious than before, for it wras caused by anxiety, and the beatings of their hearts may have been heard.

The singer profited by it, to say slowly:  “I cannot have that either; nor all of you at once, nor one after the other; nothing!  I tell you that I cannot.”

“Why?  Why?” And now they were almost screaming, for they were angry and sorry at the same time.  Their cheeks had gone from scarlet to livid, their eyes flashed fire, and some shook their fists menacingly.

“Silence!” the girl cried, who had spoken first.  “Be quiet, you pack of huzzys!  Let him explain himself, and tell us why!”

“Yes, yes, let us be quiet!  Make him explain himself in God’s name!”

Then, in the fierce silence that ensued, the singer said, opening his arms wide, with a gesture of despairing inability to do what they wanted: 

“What do you want?  It is very amusing, but I cannot do more.  I have two girls of my own already, at home.”

PROFITABLE BUSINESS

He certainly did not think himself a saint, nor had he any hypocritical pretensions to virtue, but, nevertheless, he thought as highly of himself as much as he did of anybody else, and perhaps, even a trifle more highly.  And that, quite impartially, without any more self love than was necessary, and without his having to accuse himself of being self conceited.  He did himself justice, that was all, for he had good moral principles, and he applied them, especially, if the truth must be told, not only to judging the conduct of others, but also, it must be allowed, in a measure for regulating his own conduct, as he would have been very vexed if he had been able to think of himself: