The count left the whist table, and, approaching Madame Monléard, examined her embroidery.
"Ah! what pretty work that is you are doing, belle dame! Why, you seem to possess all the talents!"
"Mon Dieu! I haven't so very many!"
"Is it a rug you're making?"
"No; it's a design for a footstool."
"What a lucky dog Monléard is! He has married a treasure!"
"You exaggerate, monsieur le comte."
"No, I say what I think; and if I had known you earlier—— Oh! I know what I'd have done! Ah! Dieu!"
"What a sigh! Ha! ha! ha!"
"It makes you laugh to hear me sigh?"