"Ah! that strikes you as amusing, does it?" he faltered.
"Mon Dieu! Monsieur Batonnin, with all your hesitation and holding back, I thought that you were going to tell us something scandalous. Frankly, it seems to me that those words, from the mouth of a man who was drunk, no doubt, and whose tongue may have been twisted, did not deserve such a long preamble——"
"Your son-in-law didn't think as you do, apparently; for he rushed after the fellow, and they exchanged cards."
"Did Madame Delbois see that also?"
"How does it happen that that lady, who is evidently very fond of talking, has not delivered herself before this of things that took place more than six weeks ago?"
"That's easily explained: she left Paris for the country the next morning, and didn't return until the day before yesterday."
"Oh! you needn't tell me that!—Come, let us go and have some coffee."
"Look you, my dear Batonnin," said Monsieur Clairval, laughing heartily, "your news fell rather flat. It's a pity, isn't it?"
Batonnin bit his lips, and, strange to say, did not smile.