"Well—so you have just come back from Paris?" she said indifferently.
"Yes; I stayed a day or two after my mother. One didn't want to come back to this dull hole."
"Did you see the new piece at the Francais?"
He made a face.
"Not I! One couldn't be caught by such vieux jeu as that! There was a splendid woman in one of the cafés chantants—but I suppose you don't go to cafés chantants?"
"No," said Madeleine, eyeing him over her fan with a composure that astonished herself. "No, I don't go to cafés chantants."
Ancoats looked blank a moment, then resumed, with fervour:
"This woman's divine—épatant! Then, at the Chat Noir—but—ah! well, perhaps you don't go to the Chat Noir?"
"No, I don't go to the Chat Noir."
He fidgeted for a minute. She sat silent. Then he said: