"Ah, my dear Mathilde," cried she, "what a happy and unexpected meeting!"
Truly it was a romantic encounter, rarely met with in real life. Chance, however, often plays us tricks altogether unforeseen.
Mathilde did not share the apparent joy of Muse, for whom she had no great affection. But their acquaintance dated back to the time when they both wore short dresses, and the remembrances of childhood are always pleasant.
The proprieties required observance, and Jacob had his table carried to the grand salon, where their friends were dining; he certainly did not expect to see Henri Segel, and Mathilde saw him first. She drew back, for all her involuntary unhappy experience with Henri appeared before her. Her husband, although much annoyed, encouraged her to shake off her distress.
Segel understood that his presence was disagreeable to all; therefore it pleased him to impose it. It delighted him to see all countenances grow pale and abstracted at sight of him. He affected a cynical gayety, drank a glass of wine, lighted a cigar, then turned toward Jacob and Mathilde.
With well-simulated indifference Muse watched the meeting. Her husband, playing the young man, had risen quickly and received his wife's friends with much courtesy. He was very polite to Jacob, and entirely ignored the revolutionary rôle that he had played.
Von Kreig detested Henri, but he deemed it proper for a baron to disguise his sentiments, and he was very courteous to his vanquished rival. The scene was highly dramatic. There was no outward appearance of excitement, however, for men of the world do not show their feelings in public.
Gromof, roused from his meditations, looked around and perceived Jacob.
"How strange," said he, "to meet you again at Sestri."
"Yes," replied the latter, "a real accident. I am the same as ever, you see, but not so gay as then."