"I?—not at all. You were to see to them. You are a nice one to count on for the stage properties! I say, Noémi, if you were married, would it ever dawn upon you to give your husband a purse? It's rather shoppy, isn't it? Why not a smoking-cap, at once?"
"Are we going to rehearse?" asked Denoisel.
"Oh, Denoisel, you said that just like a man who really wants to go and have a smoke!"
"I always do want to smoke, Renée," answered Denoisel, "and especially when I ought not to."
"Why, it's quite a vice, then, with you."
"I should just think it is; and so I keep it."
"Well, but what pleasure can you find in smoking?"
"The pleasure of a bad habit—that is the explanation of many passions. 'Good evening, my dear,'" he repeated, once more going back to M. de Chavigny's arrival on the scene, "'do I disturb you?'"
"Disturb me, Henri—what a question!" replied Noémi.
And the rehearsal continued.