The noise kept increasing, and it seemed to me that I heard familiar voices. At last they came toward the salon, and lo! Giraud entered, with his wife, his daughter, one of his sons, and a tall young man dressed as if for a ball, who dared not move for fear of disarranging the knot of his cravat or rumpling his shirt collar.
Caroline watched the entrance of all those people with wide-open eyes. Giraud came forward with an offhand air and introduced his wife, saying:
“Mademoiselle, I have the honor to offer my respects, and to introduce my wife. Wife, this is mademoiselle, the niece of Monsieur Roquencourt, from whom I received such a cordial welcome last Sunday, and who urged me to call again when I was driving in this direction. These are my eldest son and my daughter. Bow to the lady, my children. Monsieur is one of our intimate friends; he was in our party and I took the liberty of introducing him.—Good-day, my dear Blémont; delighted to find you here again!”
Caroline bestowed a decidedly cool salutation upon the party; she contented herself with pointing to chairs. The Giraud family seated themselves; the young dandy took his seat on the edge of a couch, and Giraud at once continued:
“But where is our dear uncle, the amiable Monsieur Roquencourt? Bless my soul! how I did enjoy hearing him recite the part of Mascarille in L’Etourdi! and Monsieur de Crac! Ah! how good he was! I made my wife laugh heartily by telling her about it.—Didn’t I, my love?”
“Yes, my dear.—But, mon Dieu! what does Azor mean by searching under all the chairs like that? Come here, Azor.—Monsieur Mouillé, just give him a kick, if you please, to make him keep still.”
Monsieur Mouillé—that was the dandified young man’s name—rose and tried to catch the dog. Being unable to do it, he gave him a kick, which made Azor fly from the salon yelping just as Monsieur Roquencourt entered. Everybody rose once more. Once more Monsieur Giraud introduced his family and his young man, adding:
“Monsieur Mouillé does not come to the country often; he has so much business to attend to since he inherited from his uncle the merchant, who left him a hundred and fifty thousand francs and a buggy.—Was it a buggy or a tilbury that your uncle had?”
“It was a jolting affair,” replied Monsieur Mouillé, without turning his neck.
Giraud made a wry face and continued;