"This is better! one can at least see something here, and it isn't reeking with tobacco smoke!"
Meanwhile, the young man, surprised by his visitor's abrupt exit, rose from his couch, laughing, and saying to himself:
"This is a most amusing creature! But, after all, I couldn't have seen her here. Where in the devil has she gone! Let's look for her, let's play hide-and-seek; it will remind me of my boyhood!"
Passing from one room to another, the young dandy arrived at last in that one in which Mademoiselle Georgette had taken refuge; he discovered her seated in an easy-chair and turning the leaves of an album that lay on a table near by. The girl's utter lack of ceremony, and her perfect ease of manner in that elegant salon, astonished Edward, who gazed at her for several seconds, then said:
"It seems to amuse you to look at caricatures?"
Georgette rose and courtesied gracefully, as she replied:
"I was waiting for you to come, monsieur, and I thought there was no harm in looking through this album."
"No, indeed! you have done nothing wrong, except running away from my smoking room, as if it were a bear's den."
"Faith! monsieur, I am not sure that I should not prefer a bear's den to a room where the smoke is so thick that you can't see, and makes your eyes smart and your head ache, to say nothing of the insufferable odor!"
While Georgette was speaking, Edward examined her from head to foot; and his examination was evidently favorable to her, for he muttered from time to time: