"You must make some allowance for this scene, Monsieur Moreau. Such things sometimes unfortunately occur in households."
"They do when we introduce them there ourselves," said Arnoux in a jolly tone. "Women have crotchets, I assure you. This, for instance, is not a bad one—see! No; quite the contrary. Well, she has been amusing herself for the last hour by teasing me with a heap of idle stories."
"They are true," retorted Madame Arnoux, losing patience; "for, in fact, you bought it yourself."
"I?"
"Yes, you yourself, at the Persian House."
"The cashmere," thought Frederick.
He was filled with a consciousness of guilt, and got quite alarmed.
She quickly added:
"It was on Saturday, the fourteenth."
"The fourteenth," said Arnoux, looking up, as if he were searching in his mind for a date.