"Let him enter!" said Madame de Sauve to Dariole.
A moment later Réné appeared, and took in the whole room at a glance.
Madame de Sauve was still before her toilet-table.
Henry had resumed his place on the couch.
Charlotte was in the light, and Henry in the shadow.
"Madame," said Réné, with respectful familiarity, "I have come to offer my apologies."
"For what, Réné?" asked Madame de Sauve, with that condescension which pretty women always use towards the world of tradespeople who surround them, and whose duty it is to make them more beautiful.
"Because long ago I promised to work for these pretty lips, and because"—
"Because you did not keep your promise until to-day; is that it?" asked Charlotte.
"Until to-day?" repeated Réné.