"Do you know, monsieur, that your question is just the least bit indiscreet?"
"I beg pardon, monsieur; if it offends you, I withdraw it. I asked it as I might have asked: 'Do you smoke?'"
"Oh! not at all, monsieur; and it's of no use for you to try to conceal your cunning beneath that affable air. You asked me that because you are in love with Thélénie, and because you are afraid of finding a rival in me! Is not that the truth?"
"Faith! monsieur, you are so good at guessing that I see that it would be useless to try to dissemble with you.—I confess that I consider that lady enchanting, adorable!"
"You made her acquaintance at the Opéra ball, at Mi-Carême, did you not?"
"Yes, that is so; I was disguised as a Spaniard."
"Oh! I know it; I saw you pass with Thélénie on your arm. But how in the devil did you go about it to induce her to accept your arm? that is what I can't comprehend."
"The lady herself offered to walk with me; she spoke to me first in the foyer, calling me by my name, which surprised me greatly as I had never seen her before."
"It is very strange; she certainly did not accost you without some reason."
"Why, the reason was that it gave her pleasure, presumably."