“Do sit down here with me a moment,” she said; “I am so glad to find someone that I know! I am lost in the midst of all these people. And poor Ernest doesn’t dare to leave me. I am afraid that it is boring him.—Do you think that my hair looks well?”
“Very well, madame.”
“It seems to me that it looks unbecoming. I much prefer myself in the little cap that I always wear at home. But Ernest insisted upon bringing me, so of course I had to make a toilet.”
“I beg pardon, madame, I should be very pleased to stay with you; but, you see, my wife is with me——”
“Madame Blémont is here! dear me! and I am keeping you. Oh! do show me your Eugénie; I should like so much to see her.”
“At this moment there are too many people between us. But Ernest knows her, he will show her to you. Excuse me, but I shall have the pleasure of seeing you again.”
I left Madame Ernest; she probably considered me far from courteous. Mon Dieu! how horrible it is to have a suspicious wife; a man does not know what to do nor how to behave in society.
At that moment Bélan clutched my arm and said:
“Good-evening, my friend; you know that I am not a cuckold.”
“Bless my soul! did I ever say that you were, my dear Bélan?”