‘It is Monsieur Duchatel who is arrived.’
‘Oh!’ with a disdainful gesture. ‘Je m’en fiche. Let him go.’
‘But it is the nephew, my dear; not the uncle.’
‘Ah, the nephew! I come. Bon soir, madams, et bonne nuit.’
The two peignoirs fluttered down the stairs together. I returned to my Diaz, and seeing his dressing-gown behind the door of the bedroom, I took it and covered him with it.
IV
His first words were:
‘Magda, you look like a ghost. Have you been sitting there like that all the time?’