"On the contrary, Citizen," said Maurice, coldly, "I have come to ask your permission to absent myself."
"To absent yourself?"
"Yes; the sectional affairs claim my attention. I feared you might wait, and would accuse me of being wanting in politeness, therefore came to make my excuses in person."
Geneviève again felt her heart sink within her.
"Ah, mon Dieu!" cried she, "and Dixmer, who does not dine at home, counted upon finding you here on his return, and desired me to detain you."
"Ah, then, Madame! I comprehend your importunity, it is a command of your husband's; and I not to guess all this! I shall never cure myself of conceit."
"Maurice!"
"It is for me, Madame, to draw my inference from your actions rather than your words; it is for me therefore to comprehend that if Dixmer is absent the greater the reason I should not remain. His absence would surely add to your constraint."
"Why so?" timidly inquired Geneviève.
"Because you appear, since my return, sedulously to avoid me, notwithstanding I returned for your sake, and yours only; and you well know, mon Dieu! that ever since my return I have invariably found some one with you."