"You see him often, then?"
"Oh, no! only when he comes to his mother's house. 'Tis ten months now since he came. He promised, however, to be more particular."
"The promises of men are not to be too much relied on, my child."
"But he has not deceived me!"
"As he did others!"
Louise shivered: "Can it be by any chance that he promised something to her;" and her features became distracted with distrust and hate.
Madame Arnoux was almost afraid of her; she would have gladly withdrawn what she had said. Then both became silent.
As Frederick was sitting opposite them on a folding-stool, they kept staring at him, the one with propriety out of the corner of her eye, the other boldly, with parted lips, so that Madame Dambreuse said to him:
"Come, now, turn round, and let her have a good look at you!"
"Whom do you mean?"