“I do not know.”
“But I must know.”
“How can you be so stupid, Cesare, as to speak to the Baroness Grodsko as you would to any other woman? One would think you had forgotten what she is when some fancy takes possession of her. My poor friend, I am sorry for you; Lichtenbach’s company must have spoiled you. You must stop seeing him; he has turned you into a mere bourgeois!”
“You are jesting with me?”
“No!”
“You refuse to promise to come and rejoin me?”
“When I left Zypiatine, was he ever a source of annoyance to me?”
“Then you confess you wish to leave me?” exclaimed the Italian, pale with anger.
“You will know later, my friend. At present I have not the slightest wish to see you again.”
“Ah! Now you are speaking frankly. Do you forget that we have several secrets in common?”