“Oh, no! I was only her friend; but I used to go there often, and we used to hear you come in. Ah! how happy I was in those days!”
“You were happy when I broke the window? Did that amuse you?”
“It seems that I must always happen on something to remind me of that time, although I try to avoid it. However, I am glad to see you.”
“You are very good, monsieur. That must be at least five years ago, more than five years, in fact, and I wasn’t married then.”
“Ah! have you been married since?”
“Mon Dieu! don’t mention it! I don’t know what crazy idea came into my head, I who never gave a thought to love, when one day—prout, prout!—it took me like a longing to sneeze; I fancied that I was in love with a young cook who had sometimes asked me the time, then for a light; in short, trifling things which indicated a purpose to scrape an acquaintance. Suzanne was very pretty; yes, she was a superb creature, well put together; I will do justice to her physical charms. She had saved twelve hundred francs by cheating her employers a little in vegetables and butter. I said to myself: ‘That will be enough to set up a nice little tailor’s shop, after the style of the Palais-Royal.’ I offered my hand which she accepted, and we were married; I hired a shop on Boulevard du Pont-aux-Choux, all went well for——”
“For several months?”
“Prout! you are very polite! For a few days, a week at most. After that my wife complained that I was slow, that I talked too much, that I drank. For my part, I claimed that she ought to do nothing but make buttonholes. She refused to take hold of the buttonholes, and that made me mad; I persisted, she was obstinate, and to make a long story short, we fought! oh! we fought like prize fighters! and once we had got into the habit of it, it was all over, we never missed a single day. Prout! prout! morning and night! you should have seen how we hammered each other!”
“Wouldn’t it have been better to leave your wife?”
“To be sure it would, and that is what I said to myself; one night when my wife had almost torn off my left ear, I packed up my clothes and I left her.”