Madame Dauberny pressed my hand with all her strength and kissed me on the forehead.
"Listen! listen!—Oh! mon Dieu! here I am beginning to address you familiarly again, as I used to."
"Oh! I am very willing."
"No, no! I won't do it! Listen, my friend: you must tell Mignonne that you are going to pass some time in the country; that is a perfectly natural thing for you to do; ask her to continue to come to your rooms as usual, to superintend your household; you might even give her to understand that you rely on her friendship to look carefully after your interests. She will be flattered by that mark of confidence. You need not tell her how long you expect to be away—nor whom you are going to visit. You are not accountable to her, after all. But, my friend, you mustn't come to Paris too often to see her; for that would destroy the effect of your sojourn in the country."
"I understand that perfectly."
"Then we must hope that absence—common sense—— That young woman will realize sooner or later that she does wrong to love you with love."
"Surely she will! And then, if another man calls to see her, now and then——"
"Ah, yes! That's the very thing! Perhaps he will succeed in winning her love!"
I stared at Frédérique in amazement, for I had never mentioned Ballangier's passion for Mignonne to her. She blushed and began to arrange her hair; that was her usual resource when she did not want to be examined.
"Who do you think may succeed in winning Mignonne's love, pray?"