To begin with, Lucretia has to be won over. That's easy enough, but the coachman and lackey! They must be told that Her Imperial Highness is graciously pleased to walk in the Bois, the carriage waiting at the end of the Grand Boulevard.
After Luncheon.
I ought to have said to him, I won't come. It's cruel to let him wait on a street corner and not even send notice, and to tip him off is impossible.
And come to think of it, if Lucretia and I were promenading in the Bois and met the Count by accident, where's the harm? And if I don't go—Good Lord, he might kill himself. He is desperate enough for that. And he might leave letters compromising me.
I will go to give him a piece of my mind. I will be very harsh with him, very adamant.
And I will try to find out how he manages to select always the same theatre as I.