Henriette turned pale. No doubt she well knew that he merely came to her house to meet the baron; still he might have avoided throwing his indifference in her face like that. At that moment the door had opened and the footman was standing behind her. When she had interrogated him by a sign, the servant leant over and said in a very low tone:
"It's for that mantle. Madame wished me to let her know. The young woman is there."
Henriette at once raised her voice, so as to be heard; and all her jealous suffering found relief in these scornfully harsh words: "She can wait!"
"Shall I show her into madame's dressing-room?" asked the servant.
"No, no. Let her stay in the ante-room!"
And, when the servant had gone, she quietly resumed her conversation with Vallagnosc. Mouret, who had relapsed into his former lassitude, had listened in an absent-minded way, without understanding, while Bouthemont, worried by the adventure, remained buried in thought. Almost at that moment, however, the door was opened again, and two ladies were shown in.
"Just fancy," said Madame Marty, "I was alighting at the door, when I saw Madame de Boves coming along under the arcade."
"Yes," explained the latter, "it's a fine day, and my doctor says I must take walking exercise."
Then, after a general hand-shaking, she inquired of Henriette: "So you're engaging a new maid?"
"No," replied the other, astonished. "Why?"