And she escaped. But he held her back; he wanted to speak to her. She was fairly under way and again declared she had no time, but he stopped her with a word.
“Listen, I know you’re going to marry my brother.”
Gracious! The thing was too funny! And she let herself down into a chair in order to laugh at her ease.
“Yes,” continued the lad, “and I don’t wish it. It’s I you’re going to marry. That’s why I’ve come.”
“Eh, what? You too?” she cried. “Why, it’s a family disease, is it? No, never! What a fancy, to be sure! Have I ever asked you to do anything so nasty? Neither one nor t’other of you! No, never!”
The lad’s face brightened. Perhaps he had been deceiving himself! He continued:
“Then swear to me that you don’t go to bed with my brother.”
“Oh, you’re beginning to bore me now!” said Nana, who had risen with renewed impatience. “It’s amusing for a little while, but when I tell you I’m in a hurry—I go to bed with your brother if it pleases me. Are you keeping me—are you paymaster here that you insist on my making a report? Yes, I go to bed with your brother.”
He had caught hold of her arm and squeezed it hard enough to break it as he stuttered:
“Don’t say that! Don’t say that!”