M. Savel responded:
"No, my girl; but go and tell your mistress that I want to speak to her at once."
"The fact is, Madame is preparing her stock of pear-jams for the winter, and she is standing in front of the fire. She is not dressed, as you may well understand."
"Yes, but go and tell her that I wish to see her on an important matter."
The little servant went away, and Savel began to walk, with long, nervous strides, up and down the drawing-room. He did not feel himself the least embarrassed, however. Oh! he was merely going to ask her something, as he would have asked her about some cooking receipt, and that was: "Do you know that I am sixty-two years of age!"
The door opened; and Madame appeared. She was now a gross woman, fat and round, with full cheeks, and a sonorous laugh. She walked with her arms away from her body, and her sleeves tucked up to the shoulders, her bare arms all smeared with sugar juice. She asked, anxiously:
"What is the matter with you, my friend; you are not ill, are you?"
"No, my dear friend; but I wish to ask you one thing, which to me is of the first importance, something which is torturing my heart, and I want you to promise that you will answer me candidly."
She laughed, "I am always candid. Say on."
"Well, then. I have loved you from the first day I ever saw you. Can you have any doubt of this?"