"Wait a moment! Regimbart! I know that name. I have come across his signature."
Frederick at length broached the question. Arnoux deserved some consideration; he was even going, for the sole purpose of fulfilling his engagements, to sell a house belonging to his wife.
"She is considered very pretty," said Madame Dambreuse.
The banker added, with a display of good-nature:
"Are you on friendly terms with them—on intimate terms?"
Frederick, without giving an explicit reply, said that he would be very much obliged to him if he considered the matter.
"Well, since it pleases you, be it so; we will wait. I have some time to spare yet; suppose we go down to my office. Would you mind?"
They had finished breakfast. Madame Dambreuse bowed slightly towards Frederick, smiling in a singular fashion, with a mixture of politeness and irony. Frederick had no time to reflect about it, for M. Dambreuse, as soon as they were alone:
"You did not come to get your shares?"
And, without permitting him to make any excuses: