“They insisted on it. I didn’t want to be. I hope you don’t take it ill of me.”
“Oh! not at all.”
“It was my wife who insisted on it.”
“She’s a very nice person, is your wife; she does things well. But how does it happen that the other second isn’t your intimate friend, the famous Baron von Schtapelmerg, who fought against the Turks?”
“And who won two hundred francs from me last night at écarté!”
“He cheated you, my dear boy; I would stake my head on it!”
“Oh! messieurs!” cried Chamoureau, “can it be that you suspect that worthy Bavarian of being a Greek?”
“I suspect it because I am certain that that unprepossessing person, who claims to be a German baron and can’t speak German, is simply your wife’s brother!”
“What! the brother of—then my wife is a baroness——”
“No more than he’s a baron; he gave himself away several times when he had drunk too much. However, I hope to see him again, and to find out just what to think. Where is he now?”