"You must come and see what a pretty little place I've got," said Madame Duponceau; "what a pity that you always come in winter!"
"I don't see what difference that makes here, as you have no garden."
"But I have rabbits."
"Are they finer in summer than in winter?"
"No; but they show themselves more, because they ain't cold."
"They show themselves quite enough as it is, in my opinion. I should be glad of a little refreshment."
"And then you must tell us what happened to you at Passy that kept you from coming back to dinner with us."
Cherami allowed himself to be taken all over the house; he was not even spared an inspection of the attic. He found everything charming, admirable, even the lean-to where the servant slept. At last, when the inspection was at an end, they begged him to tell them his adventures in the Bois de Boulogne. He told the whole story, taking care not to mention names; and when he had finished, Madame Duponceau cried:
"That's what it is to fight a duel with pistols!"
"Corbleu de mordieu!" thought Cherami; "what an idiot I am to take the trouble to tell anything to such mummies! This will teach me a lesson; I ought to have told them about Blue Beard."