"That is not true. We don't do anything of the kind."
"The world says so. I don't want to inquire; it is your secret."
"It is not true," Eveline repeated. "We do not flagellate ourselves; look!" And kneeling down before Arpad she raised the lace collar which was round her neck and made him look at her fair skin.
They were a pair of children.
Arpad took his hat and his leave. He left a card with his address, but he would have no share in her concert.
Eveline, however, went on writing her programme.
CHAPTER XXIX
IMMACULATE
Eveline was still writing her programme when the Abbé Samuel was announced. In Paris it is not thought out of the way for an abbé to visit an actress, and, for the rest, the abbé was an old friend, well known to both husband and wife. He was naturally very much interested in the concert, and read the programme most attentively.
"It would have been all so nice," said Eveline, in a vexed tone, "only for that stupid Arpad. See, father, just there, between my song and the violoncello solo, he would have come in so well."