id to my companion, ' I'm so glad to see you.

d of being i

ll who were present that, despite the familiar way in which she greeted him, Gaston was

w me to present Mon

iven Prudence l

naging to make more or less intelligible sounds, 'I ha

searching among her memories, but she did

ng, for I behaved quite ridiculously and must surely have seemed very tiresom

sn't that you were ridiculous, but I who was a tease. As I st

ut her hand wh

o embarrass people I see for the first time. It's very silly. My doctor says it's b

ook extrem

e been v

kno

told

find out how you were, and I was very

brought me

er lef

day to ask after me all the time I was

a

e done that, ' she added, turning to Monsieur de N but not before giving me

r only two months, '

e for only five minutes. You al

ess with people

ddened and b

I was, and Marguerite's callous frankness must have made him

when we arrived, ' I then

sure of treating me like an

her, 'Gaston knows exactly what my playing is like. It's all very well when I

?' replied Monsieur de N, with a smi

me for doing so. It's the only ti

ld not say anything right. He gave th

she continued, 'did

es

ter. We have things to talk about, so yo

that we ?or rather I ?have managed a second introduction to

wasn't intended for you. On the

extremely handsome wat

ing to the clu

did not rep

ay from the mantelpiece

bye, m

e rose to

ar Count, must y

fear I b

ore than any other day. Whe

permit.' 'Go

of her, you

cellent character. He simply kissed the hand which Marguerite rather no

ugh the doorway, he sho

shoulders in a

t I did al

arguerite, ' show

e door open

she reappeared, 'he's gone; that yo

o you, so thoughtful. On your mantelpiece, there's yet another watch that he's g

ards the mantelpiece, was now playing with t

s at

gh in one hand what he gives me and, in the other, the things he sa

y is in love

who is in love with me, I wouldn'

er the piano, after which

nything? I'd love

ce of chicken, ' said Prude

go out for suppe

have supp

Nanine a

ut for

hall I

, but be quick, as

e wen

like a child, 'we are going to have su

enchanted I was. She was entrancingly b

t in cont

tion for her beauty. Proof of her disinterestedness was provided by the fact that she could turn down a fashionable and w

woman something ap

rge eyes faintly ringed with blue, all pointed to one of those passionate natures which give out a bouquet of sensuality, jus

ntly with flashes of desires which, if spoken, would have been a heaven- sent relevation to any man she loved. But

could have turned into the most loving, the most pure of virgins. Marguerite still had something of a proud spirit and an urge to imdependence ?two sentiments which, when violat

, 'it was you who came for

es

y quite sublime! And wha

and call on you fr

six, and from eleven to midnight. I say, Ga

hy

and secondly because I can never ma

find diffic

, the passage w

no and began to play Weber's splendid melod

note which she accompanied in a soft singing voice and, when Gaston reached the passage whic

, mi, re...that's the pa

in, after which Marg

et me

ll her stubborn fingers tripped over one or ot

You won't believe it, but sometimes I sit up working on it until two in the morning! And when I think that fool of

in, and still wit

ng the score to the other end of the room. 'Would anybody

rms, glaring at us an

r cheeks and a small c

her hair in a mirror, 'you'll only get angry an make yourself ill. L

piano and began quietly crooning a squalid song ?

, and they truned it

ulgar rubbish, ' I said to Marguerite c

' she said, smiling and ho

or my sake

nt: 'Oh! it's a long time since I h

cture, Nani

eady?' asked

e, in just

e, 'you haven't seen round the a

he drawing-roo

en she called Gaston and went with him into

ents of a shelf from which she picked up a Dresden

ch o

holding a cage w

ve it if yo

uldn't depriv

id, I think it's hideous. But

She put her shepherd boy to one side, and led me into the dressing-

love with Marguerite. He's the one w

I asked, pointing to

Vicomte de L. He

hy

ined. Now there was somebody

e she loved h

her. The evening of the day he went away, she went to the th

ared, and announced t

was leaning against one wall and Gaston, who wa

ng to do with you. You can't wait two years after getting to know a woman like me before askin

Marguerite sat him on her right, me o

tchen and tell them they're not to

given at one

e and Marguerite. Gaston was enjoying himself unreservedly: he was a young man whose heart was in the right place, but his mind had been a little warped by the kind of people he had mixed with in his early days. At one point, I had opted to steel myself, to make my heart and my thoughts immune to the spectacle before my eyes, a

a need to forget, a restlessness, a nervous reaction. With each glass of champagne, her cheeks took on a feverish flush, and a cough, which had been nothing at the start of s

ly excesses must have inflicted

han any she had had while I had been there. It was as though her chest was being torn to pieces from the inside. The poor girl turned purple, close

h Marguerite?'

blood, ' said Prudence. 'Oh, it won't be anything, it happens every day

the great astonishment of Prudence and Nanine w