"I am sure of it, monsieur; I ask a thousand pardons."
"When you carry a cane, monsieur, you ought to know how to use it."
"It was because I thought that I was using it that I was gesticulating with it."
During this colloquy the lady had readjusted her hat; and she drew her husband away, saying:
"Come, my dear; as monsieur did it accidentally, let's accept his apologies."
"Accidentally! upon my word, it would be very pretty if he had intended to do it! By all the devils! if I believed that——"
And the gentleman, becoming more and more enraged as he became more convinced of his adversary's terror, began to grind his teeth and act as if he proposed to fall upon Tobie; but Tobie was already far away; he had taken to his heels, trying to thrust his cane into his pocket, as a means of avoiding any further disaster.
This incident calmed the young man's excitement.
"I cannot accuse Albert," he said to himself, as he reached the painter's door; "I have no proofs. I ought to have picked up the letter, when Madame Plays threw it on the floor. I'll go back to the café to-morrow and ask the waiter if he found it. Meanwhile, I won't be such a donkey as to tell what happened to me, for they would laugh at me unmercifully. On the contrary, I must make them think that my triumph was complete."
Balivan lived on Rue Taitbout, in the same house as young Elina and her aunt. His apartments were on the third floor; he had three small rooms, and a studio which was large enough for him, as he painted nothing but portraits.