"Does it take weeks or months to fall in love? We see a woman; she attracts us, fascinates us at once, or never. Love—what is it but electricity?"
"Oh! I didn't know!"
"Why, it is nothing else; a pretty woman's eyes contain the fluid that electrifies us. The moment that we feel the shock, it's all up with us; we are electrified."
"Really! and the women, what electrifies them?"
"Why, that is done by the same process; our glances do the business!"
As he spoke, he tried to electrify the girl by fixing his eyes upon her, full of fire, and attempted to move his chair still nearer. But Georgette moved hers away, saying in a very sharp tone:
"Don't sit so near me, monsieur, I beg you! it makes it hard for me to work, and, besides, it isn't proper."
The old beau was speechless with surprise; he concluded that his eyes had not emitted enough of the magnetic fluid, and tried to make them still more inflammable as he exclaimed:
"May not one venture to approach you, pray, in order to admire that divine figure at closer quarters?"
"No, monsieur, one may not. What would the neighbors think if they should see you sitting so near me?"