Chamoureau bowed very low, and the elder lady said to him:
"Is this the office of Monsieur Chamoureau, business agent?"
"Yes, madame, I am Chamoureau. Won't you be kind enough to step inside?"
The two ladies were ushered into the office, where Chamoureau offered them chairs, and the elder continued:
"A person for whom you have done some business, monsieur, told me that through your agency I might be able to find a small country house for sale. I know that they are to be found in the Petites-Affiches; but I thought that by applying to you, monsieur, I could obtain more precise and definite information, and that you would undertake all the necessary negotiations, which a woman does not understand."
"Certainly, madame, and with the greatest zeal, I beg you to believe. I presume that madame desires to purchase a large house, a handsome villa, with a view to passing the summer there?"
"No, monsieur, no, I do not wish to purchase a fine house; my means will not permit it. I want a modest, unpretentious place, but as attractive as possible, where we shall have everything that is necessary when one lives in the country all the year round; for it is with that purpose that I am looking for a house for my friend and myself, at some distance from Paris."
"Ah! you intend to leave Paris altogether! Are you not afraid of ennui?"
"Oh, no! far from it, monsieur! we don't care at all for Paris, do we, Agathe?"
"For my part, my dear friend, you know that I look forward with pleasure to living in the country! to have a garden, flowers to care for, and birds and hens—oh! it will be such fun!"