"What can you expect, my poor friend! We are not to have everything our own way in this world.... Good-bye until to-night."
"Until to-night, then."
She shut the door of her bedroom quickly just as the sitting-room door opened.
"Oh! good-day, my dear Comte," she said; "come and sit here by me ... I was expecting you impatiently...."
Meanwhile, Louise lifted the Persian portière curtain and beckoned me to follow her. I put a louis in her hand. She gazed at me in astonishment.
"Well, what is the matter?" I asked.
"Things are to be, then, as though Madame had not rung?"
"Precisely."
"Shall we not see you again?"
"Oh yes, I return to-night."