Mme. Roland asked:
"Pierre is not come down?"
Her husband shrugged his shoulders:
"No, but never mind him; he is always behind hand. We will begin without him."
She turned to Jean:
"You had better go to call him, my child; it hurts his feelings if we do not wait for him."
"Yes, mother. I will go."
And the young man went. He mounted the stairs with the fevered determination of a man who is about to fight a duel and who is in a fright. When he knocked at the door Pierre said:
"Come in."