"Yes, my habit, and hers also. She is married to an excellent man, whom I also value very much, a very cordial fellow. A capital companion! I may say, I think that my life is bound up with that house."
"Well?"
"Well! they could not manage to leave Paris, and I found myself a widower at Dieppe."
"Why did you go to Dieppe?"
"For change of air. One cannot remain on the Boulevards the whole time."
"And then?"
"Then I met the little woman I mentioned to you on the beach there."
"The wife of that head of the public office?"
"Yes; she was dreadfully dull; her husband only came every Sunday, and he is horrible! I understand her perfectly, and we laughed and danced together."
"And the rest?"