"Only a girl!" repeated Nelly, tossing her long curls; "girls are a great deal of use, too; I mended all his stockings and all papa's this week--think of that, neighbor Oldbird!"
"That was really splendid!" said I; and just then we entered the market.
The very first thing we met was a horrid big dog, that belonged to some butcher; and, bless me! how he began to show his great rows of teeth, and growl at Gipsey! Nelly gave a little scream, and tried to hide behind me; Jimmy valiantly flew at the big dog with my walking stick; and poor little Gipsey nearly stood on the end of his tail with fright, and squealed dismally. What a fuss we were all in, to be sure! So at last, to quiet the disputants, I caught Gipsey up, and put him in my coat pocket, where he sat, looking out at the top, very much comforted.
Then we turned to the right, and went by the brightest and prettiest stall in the whole market. It was kept by a Frenchman, who, in his own language, would be called a "_charcutier_;" but Jimmy and Nell shouted out together "Oh, there's the _pig man_!" as loud as ever they could, and then stopped, blushing very much, because they were afraid the pork merchant heard them. I expect he did; for he looked very funny when we came close, and smoothing down his snowy apron with his fat hands, said "Bonjour, mademoiselle!" and laughed good humoredly. There was a great "head cheese" on the pig man's marble counter, moulded in the shape of a boar's head. The tusks were made of white carrots, the eyes of red jelly, and the sides of the dish it was on were beautifully ornamented with white roses, cut out of turnips, and parsley foliage. Then there were ever so many pork pies, with the most elegant wreaths of flowers on the top crust, comical little hams already cooked, and fat dumplings of sucking pigs, as pink as baby himself!
When we had looked about us a little, we concluded to buy a pork pie of the pig man; and while that was being nicely packed up in paper, out popped Gipsey from my pocket, and stood triumphant on the counter, in the midst of the little pigs and savory pastries. I don't know what forays he would not have made upon them, if he had not been captured by the pig man, Jimmy, and me; but he did contrive to jump right into the very middle of another pork-pie! and then we had to pay for that, too; and wipe the gravy off Gipsey's feet and the ends of his tail and nose, and button him up tight in the market basket for half an hour, as a punishment for his naughtiness. As to the pie we had bought, Jimmy carried that, and Gipsey cut up so many antics inside the basket, that he nearly wriggled it out of my hand altogether.