"Oh! that poor Gustave! He did love you so dearly!"
"Oh, yes! I advise you to pity him! He behaved nobly, didn't he? To go shouting jeremiads in the street, and end by sending someone to fight in his place! Fie! it was shameful!"
"Fanny, you judge Gustave too harshly; do you impute it to him as a crime, that he didn't insult your husband? Oh! he probably would have done it, if his uncle hadn't dragged him away, almost by force, from that restaurant, where he absolutely insisted on speaking to you."
"How do you know all that?"
"Because it was I who sent word to Monsieur Grandcourt that his nephew was at the restaurant where the wedding was being celebrated."
"Oh! yes, so you told me. That fellow wanted to make a scene—and by what right? Was I obliged to marry him, I should like to know?"
"You allowed him to believe that you loved him."
"Nonsense! because a woman listens to the soft things these men say to her, because she smiles when they sigh, they instantly assume that she adores them. A fine position he offered me, didn't he? Three thousand francs a year—magnificent!"
"If you had really loved him, you wouldn't have cared about his wealth."
"Oh! I'm not romantic like you. With Auguste, I have a coupé at my orders, and I find it very pleasant. I tell you again, your Monsieur Gustave is an idiot!"