I had telephoned and broken the news to him while I was waiting for Alathea to come. He was not surprised, he pretended, and now that the marriage is an accomplished fact, he is too well bred not to fall into the attitude of delight about it. Maurice has no intention of dropping me—married or single!
Thus when we arrived, and went up in the lift to the sitting-room, we found him among the first to greet us.
The Duchesse kissed us both fondly, and said many pleasant things, and having placed me in a suitable chair, brought everyone to me, and presented Alathea to them all.
They were the very crême de la crême of the Faubourg who could be collected in Paris—many are still in the country. Coralie was there, with two resentful pinpoints in her clever little eyes, but the most gracious words on her lips.
They none of them could find fault with the appearance of my wife—nor her manner. She has the ways of the ancien régime like the Duchesse. I could see that she was having a huge success.
While everything seemed to be going beautifully and all the company had gone on into another small anti-room where the "goûter" was, my dear old friend came to me.
"It is not progressing Nicholas—Hein?"
"There is some screw very loose, Duchesse. She absolutely hates me and wants to go and live out of the flat!"
"Tiens!—She is jealous of some one. Nicholas, it is not possible that you have still—?"
I did not grow angry.