Max's first action was to take possession of both, and to set them side by side upon the dressing-table. The candle Jacqueline delivered up in silence, but as the mug was wrested from her, she cried out in sudden vindictiveness:
"And that—look you—that is the cause of all! It was Lucien's idea! I served a cup of bouillon to him and to his friend at midnight, for they had talked much; and finding it good, nothing would serve but I must place a cup also for Monsieur Max, to await him on his return. Alas! Alas!"
Max pushed the cup away, as if to remove a side issue.
"Answer the question I put to you! You know that I am a woman?"
"Yes; I know."
"Since when? Since the night at the Bal Tabarin?"
"Oh, but no!"
"Since the morning we met upon this doorstep?"
"No."
"Since the morning you made the coffee for M. Blake and me?"