“But if they are waiting for you?”
“Well, so much the worse for them; let them wait for me—we shall be together all the longer.”
He took Rosalie’s arm under his own and pressing against her as if he were a child:
“Té! do you know that I am happy only in this place? Your gentleness rests me, your coolness comforts me. That Cadaillac put me into such a state of rage! He’s a fellow without any conscience, he’s a fellow without any morality—”
“You didn’t know his character, then?”
“The way he is carrying on that theatre is a burning shame!”
“It is true that the engagement of that Mlle. Bachellery ... why did you let him do it? A girl who is false in everything, her youth, her voice, even her eyelashes.”
Numa felt his cheeks reddening; it was he himself who fastened them on, now, with his own great big fingers, those eyelashes! The little girl’s mamma had taught him how to do it.
“Whom does this little good-for-nothing belong to, anyhow? The Messenger was talking the other day of influences in high circles, of some mysterious protection—”
“I don’t know; to Cadaillac, undoubtedly.”