“Here you are at last, monsieur! Where on earth were you hiding? what pretty behavior now! to make us scour the whole place for you!” said Thélénie when her husband appeared in the dining-room.
“I did not hide for my own amusement, madame. I have been a prisoner in a place which I certainly should not have selected for a prison.”
“A prisoner! what do you mean by that?”
Chamoureau explained to his wife what had happened to him. When she learned where her husband had passed the day, she laughed so loud and long that it seemed as if she would never stop. This outburst of hilarity seemed decidedly unseasonable to Chamoureau; but he wreaked his vengeance on the dinner; he ate enough for four, so that Thélénie said to him:
“For heaven’s sake, monsieur, do you want to give yourself an attack of indigestion?”
“I have a right to, madame! When a man has passed six hours in that place, he owes himself some compensation.”
IX
THE GOLDFISH
On the following day Thélénie said to her husband:
“Monsieur, you will be dressed at two o’clock, when we will have the horses put in the calèche and go to pay some visits.”
“Visits! to whom, pray, madame? we don’t know anyone here.”