She called to the cat, which fled precipitately.
"Mouche! Mouche!" Durtal called, but Mouche took refuge under the bed and refused to come out. "You see he is rather bashful. He has never seen a woman."
"Oh, would you try to make me think you have never received a woman here?"
He swore that he never had, that she was the first....
"And you were not really anxious that this—first—should come?"
He blushed. "Why do you say that?"
She made a vague gesture. "I want to tease you," she said, sitting down in the armchair. "To tell you the truth, I do not know why I like to ask you such presumptuous questions."
He had sat down in front of her. So now, at last, the scene was set as he wished and he must begin the attack. His knee touched hers.
"You know," he said, "that you cannot presume here. You have claims on—"
"No, I haven't and I want none."