"Frankly, I agree with him; for, after all, my boy as the damsel didn't love you——"
"Why, yes, she did love me, before she knew this Monléard."
"She gave you the preference when there was nobody else."
"He turned her head by his magnificence, his presents."
"It is much better for you that it happened before your marriage rather than after.—Here's to your health! Ah! here's the Périgord macaroni—with truffles on top—that's the checker! Do you know this way of preparing macaroni?"
"It seems that he hastened the ceremony after our last interview; for that was only twelve days ago, and to-day I learned that the wedding was to take place at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, to be followed by a banquet and ball here."
"Yes, and then you lost your head! You said to yourself: 'I will be there, I want to see what sort of a face the faithless creature will make when she sees me.'"
"True, monsieur, true. But they must have misinformed me as to the hour of the ceremony, for when I reached the church it was all over—they had gone."
"So much the better! that saved you one stab."
"Then I started off like a madman and ran all the way here, saying to myself: 'I simply must see her!'—And you know the rest, monsieur."