“I do know! I hope you are not jealous.”
Gerald sneered contemptuously.
“Jealous!... Well.... No!... But he does bore me somewhat!... Your little friend is too fond of hearing himself talk.”
He rose and joined Chambannes, who was pouring himself a glass of brandy in front of the liqueur cabinet.
M. Raindal was unconsciously gratified when he saw their conversation ended. He was taking careful stock of “young M. de Meuze,” as Zozé had termed him; young Gerald was in the light of a lamp over which he bent in order to relight his cigar. Well, he was not so very young, in spite of appearances! The light now revealed at the corners of his eyes, of his lips and of his nostrils, through his still firm, youthful face, undefined lineaments, the colorless signs of forthcoming lines; and the veins were beginning to stand out on his temples.
This put M. Raindal in good humor, a feeling that confused him, since he had pretentions to generosity and magnanimity. Was it any reason, because M. de Meuze did not bestow admiring glances upon him, because the ma face had worn a constant expression of bored peevishness, to rejoice in these signs of the fatal decrepitude which advancing years....
Mme. Chambannes interrupted him in the midst of this return to fairness.
“Tell me, dear master!... What about our great visit to the Louvre?”
Alas, they must give up the idea of it for this week, as they had had to the previous weeks for a month, the “great” visit had been put off from week to week. Zoz every day was taken up. They finally decided to wait and settle upon the date at the next lesson. The conversation turned to less serious subjects. Aunt Panhias, as if she were relieved from a professional secret, let herself go on the subject of Smyrna. Fearing to fall asleep, M. Raindal withdrew at eleven. Downstairs, Mme. Chambannes asked him to invite the ladies on her behalf; would they join him and come to dinner on the forthcoming Thursday? He thanked her profusely but, once he was in the street, he could not repress the annoyance which this difficult mission caused him.
“What an idea!” he said to himself.... “Ah, yes, how easy that will be!”