"Do you think so? Haven't some of them fought duels for her?"
"Yes; I believe there has been a duel; but I don't know who the parties were."
The arrival of two new guests changed the subject of conversation. Monsieur and Madame Plays entered the salon. The host went forward to meet the superb and massive Herminie, saying:
"Mon Dieu! madame, what a pleasure it is to see you! we have been deprived of that pleasure so long! What has become of you? For more than two months you haven't been seen in society! I have asked about you several times, and been told: 'Madame Plays has gone into retirement in one of her country houses; she receives no one and sees no one; in fact, she has turned hermit.'"
Madame Plays affected a languorous air, as she replied:
"It is true—I haven't been into society for a long while! Ah! I would like never to return to it."
"What! shun society at your age, madame, when you have been its brightest ornament! Why, that is not lawful; it's a crime, it's downright robbery!—Would you allow it, Monsieur Plays?"
Monsieur Plays tried to imitate his wife's manner, as he said:
"My wife took me with her to one of our estates; it was very dull; there were only we two, and we had no visitors; for we didn't tell anybody where we were going, we went off all of a sudden, as if we were ashamed of it. But still, when something has happened to afflict one—you understand—and my wife certainly had good cause for tears in——"
Madame Plays pinched her husband's arm, and whispered: