"Three weeks, Monsieur."
"Well, that's astonishing!"
"What is astonishing, Monsieur?"
"That I have never noticed that you were so beautiful. Come here!" said he.
I approached, trembling a little. Without a word he took me by the waist, and forced me to sit down beside him.
"Oh! Monsieur Xavier," I sighed, struggling, but not very vigorously. "Stop, I beg of you. If your parents were to see you?"
But he began to laugh:
"My parents! Oh! my parents, you know,—I have supped on them."
This was a phrase that he was continually using. When one asked him anything, he answered: "I have supped on that." And he had supped on everything.
To gain a little time I asked him: