"After all, what is the use of asking that question? The duke has just arrived, consequently it must be exactly half after nine."
The clock on the mantel interrupted the countess by striking the half-hour designated, and the lady laughed heartily as she exclaimed:
"What did I tell you, Katinka? M. de Riancourt is as punctual as the clock itself."
"That only proves his ardour and his love."
"I should prefer a less well-regulated emotion, I think. Persons who adore you at a stated time always seem to me to have a watch in place of a heart. Hand me a smelling-bottle,—no, not that one. Yes, this one will do. I am almost sorry that I am dressed, so I cannot keep the poor duke waiting longer to punish him for his tiresome punctuality."
"Why, madame, how unjust you are to him! Why do you marry him if you feel this way toward him?"
"Why do I marry M. de Riancourt?" the countess replied, as she took one more look in the mirror. "You have more curiosity than I have, Katinka. Does any woman ever know why she marries a second time?"
"The reason seems apparent to every one. The duke, though he has no gold mines in the Crimea, and no silver mines in the Ural Mountains—"
"Spare me this tiresome enumeration of my worldly possessions, Katinka."
"Well, madame, though M. le duc cannot boast of such immense possessions as you have, he is one of the wealthiest and most powerful noblemen in France. He is young and good-looking; he has not led a life of dissipation like so many other young men; on the contrary, he is very devout, and—"