De Hansfeld, therefore, said,—
"I do not know M. de Morville, I have only seen him once or twice; he seemed handsome, but his affectation struck me as ridiculous, and I heard it remarked that his merit was absurdly exaggerated."
"I heard the same thing," added the unlucky Bertha; "he seemed to me to have very regular features, but they were perhaps too insignificant."
Paula did not utter a syllable. She took from off the small table the fatal pin, and began to play with the ornament.
Iris never took her eyes off her mistress. She started with gloomy joy when she observed her mistress's action.
We may see that the petty cause was beginning to produce its effect.
"I am delighted to see a person of taste like you, sir," said M. de Brévannes to the prince, "confirm my judgment by approval."
Arnold, in order to establish himself perfectly in the good graces of Bertha's husband, ventured on a slight falsehood, and added,—
"I remember to have listened one day to his conversation, and I really thought it below mediocrity."
"It is true that M. de Morville does not pass, they say, for having a great deal of wit," added the gentle and softly responsive echo, lowering her large blue eyes, and blushing equally at the falsehood and at her effort to stoop to a kind of meanness in order to be agreeable to her husband.