“Education is everything in a family, my dear fellow; there is nothing like it!”
CHAPTER V.
That evening, there was a reception and concert at the Duveyriers.
Towards nine o’clock, Octave, who had been invited for the first time, was just finishing dressing. He was grave, and felt irritated with himself. Why had he missed fire with Valérie, a woman so well connected? And Berthe Josserand, ought he not to have reflected before refusing her? At the moment he was tying his white tie, the thought of Marie Pichon had become unbearable to him: five months in Paris, and nothing but that wretched adventure! It was as painful to him as a disgrace, for he well saw the emptiness and the uselessness of such a connection. And he vowed to himself, as he took up his gloves, that he would no longer waste his time in such a manner. He was decided to act, as he had at length got into society, where opportunities were certainly not wanting.
But, at the end of the passage, Marie was watching for him. Pichon not being there, he was obliged to go in for a moment.
“How smart you are!” murmured she.
They had never been invited to the Duveyriers’, and that filled her with respect for the first floor drawing-room. Besides, she was jealous of no one, she had neither the strength nor the will to be so.
“I shall wait for you,” resumed she holding up her forehead. “D° not come up too late; you can tell me how you amused yourself.”
Octave had to deposit a kiss on her hair. Though relations were established between them, according to his fancy, whenever a desire or want of something to do drew him to her, they did not as yet address each other very familiarly. He at length went downstairs; and she, leaning over the balustrade, followed him with her eyes.