“Let us go for a stroll in the fields.”
“In the fields? oh, no! it’s too late. I can’t be out later than nine; my aunt would scold me.”
“That’s a very tiresome aunt of yours. Let us go in somewhere.”
“No, I don’t want to. Oh! if I should be seen with you!”
I did not choose to tell her that I was no more anxious than she to exhibit myself on the boulevard with her, for, after all, there were some social conventions which I did not care to defy. She wore an apron and a cap, and that fact annoyed me greatly. Certainly I think no more of a milliner than of a flowermaker, but Agathe was dressed as a lady, and I could afford to offer her my arm; a bonnet and shawl make a vast difference in a woman; and that is one of the petty foibles to which a young man has to submit when he goes into society, even though he despise them. If Nicette had met me at noon instead of at midnight, I certainly should not have escorted her to Madame Jérôme’s on foot.
“Suppose we walk a little on Rue des Marais,” said Caroline; “I am not so much afraid of being seen there.”
“Very well.”
That suggestion was most welcome to me. We went down the stairs, took the Passage du Wauxhall, and in a moment we were on Rue des Marais, a street most favorable for sentimental promenades. Mademoiselle Caroline seemed to know the best places.
The subject of our conversation may be divined: between two lovers, between a gallant and a coquette, between a pretty woman and a comely youth, between a young man and a grisette, the same subject is always discussed; they talk of love and nothing else. For centuries, love has formed the staple subject of conversation between man and woman; many observations must have been made thereupon, and still the theme is not exhausted. To be sure, everyone treats it in his own way, but the end in view is always the same, is it not?
The fumes of the champagne led me to discuss the subject rather cavalierly; Mademoiselle Caroline, who probably had not dined so sumptuously as I had, stood on her dignity. I could obtain nothing from her; she kept her aunt constantly to the fore, complaining of the severity with which she was treated; but as she had no means of providing for herself, she must needs submit to necessity.