"Ah! madame knows them also?"
"Very little; but I have a friend, a lady, who is very intimately acquainted with one of them."
"Yes, I understand; and it's with Freluchon, I suppose?"
"No, with Monsieur Edmond; and between ourselves, I think that my poor friend has bestowed her affections very ill."
"Yes, indeed, I should say so! If she relies on that young man's fidelity, she is completely taken in."
"He has to my mind every appearance of a ne'er-do-well, hasn't he, monsieur?"
"He's the worst ne'er-do-well in the world! one of those blades who make love to the first woman they see; who have three, four, five mistresses at the same time—I don't know how they manage it! I love the fair sex, there's no doubt of that, and I cultivate it assiduously, but I don't scatter myself about like that. Ne quid nimis! That Latin axiom is my motto. Forgive me for using a dead language, madame; it slipped from my tongue."
"I congratulate you, monsieur, for not behaving as Edmond does."
"Freluchon's no better! Indeed, I think perhaps he's worse! He's a thorough scapegrace, and, as he's rich, he can do more than others; but he's an intimate friend of mine, and I don't propose to speak ill of him, especially as my late wife had much esteem for him."
"Are you a widower, monsieur?"