“Get ready to properly receive my protege on Saturday. I have not invited him to dinner: he will only spend the evening with us.”
And he mistook for a disposition to yield the cold tone in which she answered:
“I beg you to believe that this introduction is wholly unnecessary.”
Thus, the famous day having come, he told his usual Saturday guests, M. and Mme. Desclavettes, M. Chapelain, and old man Desormeaux:
“Eh, eh! I guess you are going to see a future son-in-law!”
At nine o’clock, just as they had passed into the parlor, the sound of carriage-wheels startled the Rue St. Gilles.
“There he is!” exclaimed the cashier of the Mutual Credit.
And, throwing open a window:
“Come, Gilberte,” he added, “come and see his carriage and horses.”
She never stirred; but M. Desclavettes and M. Chapelain ran. It was night, unfortunately; and of the whole equipage nothing was visible but the two lanterns that shone like stars. Almost at the same time the parlor-door flew open; and the servant, who had been properly trained in advance, announced: