“Is it over?”
“Yes, I am quite well again,” said Madame de l’Estorade.
“Then come and say good-night to Madame de Rastignac, who is preparing to take leave.”
In his eagerness to get to the minister’s wife, he forgot to give his own wife his arm. Sallenauve was more thoughtful. As they walked together in the wake of her husband, Madame de l’Estorade said,—
“I saw you talking for a long time with Monsieur de Rastignac; did he practise his well-known seductions upon you?”
“Do you think he succeeded?” replied Sallenauve.
“No; but such attempts to capture are always disagreeable, and I beg you to believe that I was not a party to the plot. I am not so violently ministerial as my husband.”
“Nor I as violently revolutionary as they think.”
“I trust that these annoying politics, which have already produced a jar between you and Monsieur de l’Estorade, may not disgust you with the idea of being counted among our friends.”
“That is an honor, madame, for which I can only be grateful.”