“Oh, no!”
“Ah, so much the better!”
In a few words he told her of his approaching departure, and said that he must devote all his remaining time to the details of the mobilization of troops.
“So—it is all over!” said Fanny, sadly. “But fear nothing! I have courage, and even if I have the evil eye at play, I know of something that brings success in war. Will you accept a little fetich from me?”
“Yes, but you persist in trying to give me something,” he said, placing on a table the sealed envelope he had brought.
“How good you are!” she murmured. “Now promise me one thing: let us dine together once more. Not at the Provencaux, however. Oh, heavens! no! At the Cafe Anglais—where we dined before the play the first time we—”
The entrance of Heloise cut short the allusion to a memory of autumn.
“Ah, it is you,” said Fanny nervously. “You come apropos.”
“Is there a row in the family?” inquired Heloise.
“As if there could be!”