“Infinitely obliged, madame; but when one has eaten eleven slices of eel, one needs nothing but exercise.—But the trains—what time does the last train leave for Paris?”
“At ten o’clock.”
“In that case, it will be well for us to start.”
Edmond realized that his friend was right; he took leave of the ladies, thanking them for their hospitable welcome; while Freluchon eyed Poucette, whose robust figure aroused his admiration.
Then the two young men went to the station.
IV
CHAMOUREAU MARRIED
Chamoureau, who was in such utter despair when he lost his Eléonore—or who pretended to be, for genuine sorrow does not act a part and make a public display of its tears; it seeks solitude and finds solace in its memories—Chamoureau had contracted a second marriage; he had become the husband of the woman whose charms had turned his head. At last he possessed the fair Thélénie, if it is proper to say that one possesses a woman when she gives herself to one without love. In my opinion one has only the usufruct in such cases.
The newly-married pair had taken a handsome apartment on Rue Saint-Lazare. Thélénie had informed her husband that she proposed to have a carriage, and he had bowed to his wife’s wishes, saying:
“My dear love, we will have whatever you wish; I shall always consider it a pleasure and a duty to gratify all your desires.”
“In that case, monsieur, you may begin by ceasing to call me thou; there is nothing in worse form than to thee-and-thou one’s wife; and I am a stickler for good form.”