"Leave him his pride," said Carnat; "I am not jealous of what he can show. He ought to have some talent, to cover his other misfortunes. Remember the old saying: 'Good player, good dupe.'"
"What do you mean by that?" said Joseph, setting down his glass and looking the other in the eye.
"I am not obliged to tell you," said Carnat; "all the others understand it."
"But I don't understand it, and as you are speaking to me I'll call you a coward if you dare not explain yourself."
"Oh, I can tell you to your face," returned Carnat; "it is something that need not offend you at all, for perhaps it is no more your fault to be unlucky in love than it is mine to be unlucky to-night in music."
"Come, come!" said one of the young men who were present; "let Josette alone. She has found some one to marry her, and that's enough; it is nobody's business."
"It is my opinion," said another, "that it was not Joseph who was tricked in that affair, but the other who is going to shoulder his work."
"Whom are you speaking of?" cried Joseph, as if his head were reeling. "Who is it you call Josette? What wicked nonsense are you trying on me?"
"Hold your tongues!" cried Mariton, turning scarlet with anger and grief, as she always did when Brulette was attacked. "I wish your wicked tongues were torn out and nailed to the church door."
"Speak lower," said one of the young men; "you know that Mariton won't allow a word against her José's fair friend. All beauties uphold each other, and Mariton is not yet so old but what she has a voice in the chapter."