“Faith, my dear girl,” said Croque, when his brother-in-law had disappeared, “there’s nobody like you for picking up men of this bake! if you had ‘em made expressly, they wouldn’t be any better! And rich, very rich, with it all—so I understand. My compliments, madame; a most excellent marriage!”
“There is no doubt that my dear husband must be a great simpleton to believe the fable you told him. You must have plenty of cheek to present yourself as a baron, dressed as you are!”
“I never lack cheek, you know!”
“How did you learn that I was here?”
“We idlers always know everything that’s going on. I am sufficiently interested in you not to lose sight of you. I was told that you had made a rich marriage, and I soon learned that you called yourself Madame de Belleville! Very pretty! very coquettish! It was not hard to find out the rest!”
“What is your object in coming here?”
“In the first place to inquire for your health and congratulate you on your marriage; secondly——”
“To ask me for more money?”
“What the devil do you expect? Living’s so dear!”
“Have you spent already the thousand francs I gave you some time ago?”