Léon, on the floor by her side, found under his hand a ribbon of scarlet silk. The boatman looked at it, and at last said⁠—

“Perhaps it belongs to the party I took out the other day. A lot of jolly folk, gentlemen and ladies, with cakes, champagne, cornets⁠—everything in style! There was one especially, a tall handsome man with small moustaches, who was that funny! And they all kept saying, ‘Now tell us something, Adolphe⁠—Dolpe,’ I think.”

She shivered.

“You are in pain?” asked Léon, coming closer to her.

“Oh, it’s nothing! No doubt, it is only the night air.”

“And who doesn’t want for women, either,” softly added the sailor, thinking he was paying the stranger a compliment.

Then, spitting on his hands, he took the oars again.