“No, I mean a few minutes later—I came back and knocked.”
“I was not here.”
“I thought you never went out.”
“I went out last night.”
“You might have been at home, and have preferred not to let me in.”
“Why so, monsieur?”
“Sometimes a person doesn’t like to be disturbed when she has company.”
“Company!”
“Yes, you understand me perfectly well; will you tell me again that you have no visitors? For the last three weeks, hasn’t a gentleman come to see you—almost every evening?”
She was embarrassed, she blushed. The messenger had not deceived me.