Chamoureau had put on the clothes he had recovered from Freluchon, but he had paid less attention to his dress than usual. The moment a man feels conscious of being rich, he gives little heed to a multitude of trivial details which he formerly magnified into matters of moment. The fact is that wealth instantly imparts a self-possession, an assurance, which sometimes reaches the point of fatuity; and a man is no longer afraid of being unfashionable, when he can say to himself:
"Everyone knows that I have the means to do just as I please."
Chamoureau, then, appeared before Madame Sainte-Suzanne with less than his usual timidity; but when he saw how lovely, how fascinating she was, he became so perturbed that he instantly forgot the sentence he had prepared, and could only stammer:
"Madame—it is I who—I had the honor to write you—still more in love—more enamored—and—how are you?"
"Very well, monsieur, thank you. Won't you sit here beside me?"
Chamoureau made one leap to the couch, and dropped upon it with so much abandon that he broke one of the springs. But he reflected that he was rich and could venture to break many springs, even those of the steel skirts which ladies wear nowadays.
"Madame," he said, turning amorously toward Thélénie, "I believe that I must begin by apologizing for my share in that adventure—in the coupé on the Champs-Elysées. I assure you that I was far from suspecting—Freluchon and Edmond Didier had assured me——"
"Enough, Monsieur Chamoureau; I beg you not to refer to that affair again. I am convinced that you were not to blame, but those two gentlemen whom you have just named, they acted like vile blackguards, like true bar-room loafers; it doesn't surprise me on their part, and in a moment I will tell you my intentions with regard to them. Let us come now to your own affairs. Is it true that you have inherited money, monsieur?"
"Perfectly true, madame; twenty thousand francs a year."
"Why, that is a very pretty little fortune! Do you know, monsieur, that this is like a dream, like a tale from the Thousand and One Nights, or the conclusion of a comedy! A legacy which you did not expect, which fell upon you suddenly, from the clouds!"