"Yes: but not with us. We shall act in English: she will favour us with a mono-drame, a ballet of action, and perhaps read a French play, which she reads to perfection."
"Not better than she dances, I dare say; for dancing, I suspect, was once one of her professions."
"What nonsense is this Helen? and who has dared to give such an erroneous and false impression of this admirable woman?"
"Surely you must have perceived that De Walden meant to insinuate that she and Annette Beauvais are the same person?"
"Then he is a vile calumniator."
"Not so: he is only a mistaken man."
"But it seems you think he cannot be mistaken: he is an oracle!"
"My love," replied I, "we had better not talk of De Walden."
"You are right, Helen, quite right; for I am conscious of great irritation when I think of him: for I feel, I cannot but feel, how much more worthy of you he is than I am; and yet, foolish girl, you gave him up for me. O Helen! when I saw him, impatient of affront to you, step forward with that flashing eye, that commanding air, to seize the offending brute, though I could have stabbed him, I could also have embraced him; and I said within myself, 'And to this man Helen preferred me! How she must repent her folly now!'"
"She never has repented, she never can repent it," said I, throwing myself upon his neck. "You know I took you with all your faults open to my view."