"Sapristi! Monsieur Edmond, you bewilder me with your questions! I don't know which one to answer.—I have known these ladies a very short time. They came to my office—ah! I remember only too well it was the day after Mi-Carême! I had just come home in my Spanish costume, thanks to that scamp of a Freluchon. For you know that my brand-new black coat and trousers are at his rooms! and heaven knows whether he will ever come back; once at Havre, he's quite capable of starting for America. If he should do that I'd have his door opened by the police."
"What in the devil are you talking about?—I didn't ask you about your clothes; I asked you who those two pretty women are that I saw at your office just now? The younger one, especially. She must be unmarried; I'll wager that she's hardly sixteen. What a fascinating face! What a sweet expression in her eyes! There is modesty, playfulness, kindliness in her expression. I have never met such a charming young woman! What is her name? The elder lady's name is Dalmont, I know; but the young lady? tell me—you must know her name."
"Her name is Thélénie de Sainte-Suzanne; you know it well enough, having been so intimate with her; having had that felicity!"
"Come, come, Chamoureau, pay a little more attention to what I say. I am not talking about Thélénie; she has nothing in common with the girl I met just now at your office, thank God!"
"Madame Sainte-Suzanne is much more beautiful. She's a grown woman, just in her prime!"
"We won't quarrel about our tastes. Adore Thélénie, my dear Monsieur Chamoureau, it is your right! but tell me the name of the charming girl who was with Madame Dalmont."
"Her name! how should I know it? Oh, yes! I remember now that her friend called her Agathe several times."
"Agathe! her name is Agathe, you say! What a sweet name!"
"Thélénie is a much more distinguished name; and the proof is that it isn't to be found in the Saints' Calendar!"
"Then that lady is her friend, her kinswoman, her cousin perhaps. Is she rich?"