This mistress was not a beauty.... But tastes differ.
In fact this mistress was the woman who had climbed up on General Lallemand's carriage-step and had spat in his face.
"Look here, Niquet," said M. Deviolaine; "as you have a comely, stout wife, tell me what charm there can be in a woman as hard as a nail?"
"She is for fast days, M. l'inspecteur."
"If she were pretty," insisted M. Deviolaine, "I could understand it ..."
"Ah! M. l'inspecteur, you do not know!..."
"But, think of red eyes ..."
"You do not know, M. l'inspecteur."
"And black teeth...."