"What do you want?" she asked.
"What do I want?... What do I want?"
I was going to threaten her.... I half arose in bed, I was gesticulating violently.... And suddenly my rage subsided, I came close to Juliette, crouched before her, filled with repentance, and kissing that perfumed and beautiful nape:
"What I want, my dear, is that you should be happy.... That you shall receive your friends.... It was so foolish on my part to demand of you what I did!... Aren't you the best of women?... Don't I love you?... Ah, hereafter I shall have no other wish than yours, I promise you!... And you'll see how nice I am going to be to them!... Wait.... Why should you not invite Gabrielle for dinner?... And Jesselin also?"
"No! No! You say it now, but tomorrow you'll reproach me for it.... No! No!... I don't want to force upon you people whom you despise—nasty women and idiots!"
"I don't know where my head was when I said that.... I don't despise them at all ... on the contrary I like them very much.... Invite both of them.... And I'll go and get a box at the Vaudeville."
"No!"
"I implore you!"
Her voice became less harsh, she closed the book.
"Well! We'll see tomorrow."