"Young La Balue? Oh, I don't know."
"They say that he makes himself up."
"That's true."
"And that he gets to be worse and worse form! How?"
"If you want to know how, you have only to ask your cousins: they will tell you."
"They won't, though! I asked them, and Jean just said, 'Don't come bothering here.' Are we going home soon?"
"Going home? why, your cousin is sure to stay for the cotillion."
"I was very stupid to come here instead of staying with M. Giraud and the abbé."
"Ah, by the bye, why didn't he come—M. Giraud? Bijou asked for an invitation for him."
"Yes, but he wouldn't come: he is awfully down in the dumps, and has been for some time. He doesn't eat, and he doesn't sleep either; instead of going to bed, he goes off walking by the river all night."