"Do tell me," said I, with a questioning glance at one of these strangers, "who is that specimen? How did he get into your house?"
"He is a charming man."
"Do you see him through the prism of love, or am I mistaken in him?"
"You are not mistaken," she replied, laughing; "he is as ugly as a toad; but he has done me the greatest service a woman can accept from a man."
As I looked at her with mischievous meaning, she hastened to add: "He has entirely cured me of the ugly red patches which spoiled my complexion and made me look like a peasant woman."
I shrugged my shoulders with disgust.
"A quack!" I exclaimed.
"No," said she, "he is a physician to the Court pages. He is clever and amusing, I assure you; and he has written books too. He is a very learned physicist."
"If his literary style is like his face!—--" said I, smiling.
"And the other?"