“Bélan, I am obliged to leave you.”
“Pshaw! what’s your hurry? You are very lucky now, you are living as a bachelor again; you are raising the deuce——”
“I am giving my whole attention to settling up my business, and——”
“Oh, yes! playing the saint! I know you, you rake! faith! between ourselves, I will tell you that I too have made a little acquaintance. Look you, we men are not saints, and although one is married, one may have weaknesses, moments of forgetfulness; indeed, that is quite legitimate for us. But I have to take the greatest precautions, for if my wife or my mother-in-law should surprise me——”
“Adieu, Bélan. I wish you all the pleasure in the world.”
“But where are you going so fast? I will go with you.”
I was not at all anxious for the little man’s company; and to get rid of him, I told him that I was going to the Bois de Boulogne. He clapped his hands and cried:
“Parbleu! how nicely it happens! That is just where I have arranged to meet my little one—near the Château de Madrid. I never see her except outside the barrier.”
“But I have business in another direction.”
“Never mind; we will take a cab and drive to the Bois together.”