He replied simply: "I have often thought of it, but it does not seem easy to me."
"Why not?"
He laughed. "Because I am afraid I should be ridiculed."
She shrugged her shoulders. "Not at all—not at all. Everyone does it, and no one laughs. Separate your name in this way: Du Roy. It sounds very well."
He replied: "No, that will not do; it is too common a proceeding. I have thought of assuming the name of my native place, first as a literary pseudonym and then as my surname in conjunction with Duroy, which might later on, as you proposed, be separated."
She asked: "Is your native place Canteleu?"
"Yes."
"I do not like the termination. Could we not modify it?"
She took a pen and wrote down the names in order to study them. Suddenly she cried: "Now I have it," and held toward him a sheet of paper on which was written: "Mme. Duroy de Cantel."
Gravely he replied: "Yes, it is very nice."