“What I had to do was to deceive an Argus, an Othello; I had to invent some stratagem day after day. Luckily I am never at a loss.”
“You are very fortunate.”
“To-day Montdidier dined out; a ceremonious dinner which he could not avoid attending. Thereupon we laid our plans. His wife pretended to dine early, and then she said that she was going to see her aunt; she did leave the house, in fact, but she joined me at a little restaurant on Boulevard du Temple. Everything passed off as we had agreed; we had an excellent dinner, et cætera, et cætera!”
“Yes, many et cæteras, no doubt.”
“I beg you to believe that there were a great many. In the evening, Hélène—that is the name of my inamorata——”
“The name suits her very well.”
“That is so, on my word! I hadn’t thought of that. Well, Hélène had to go to join her Menelaus. Ha! ha! that is very amusing—Menelaus——”
“And you are Paris!”
“Just so, I am Paris. What a pity that I cannot laugh now!—Well, Hélène was to join her husband at Giraud’s, who gives a reception to-night. You know Giraud, a loquacious fellow, who thinks that he’s a business agent because he has three boxes standing on his desk, and who has a mania for trying to marry everybody, and that merely that he and his wife may be present at the wedding?”
“Yes, I know him.”