"A thousand things may happen to prevent it. Has your father made any inquiries about the man?"
"I don't think so; he relies on Madame Putiphar's word, and she praises him in the highest terms, as well as his friend, who's a commission merchant in something or other."
"A commission merchant in marriages, I should say! However, I prefer to believe that your father wouldn't marry you to a man without knowing something about him. And, do you know, there's one thing in all this that seems so perfectly absurd to me—that is, the idea of this rich nobleman absolutely insisting on being invited out to dinner—he and his friend! That has every appearance of a joke, do you know!"
"That is so. You are right! It doesn't seem altogether natural."
"I don't know why, but I suspect some sort of a scheme in all this. There are so many schemers in Paris! Look you, my dear, this marriage isn't made yet, and something tells me that it never will be."
"Bless you, my dear Nathalie! you renew my hopes, you bring back joy to my heart! Ah! how good it was of you to come!"
"Yes, and you have no idea that you came very near never seeing me again; that I have been in great danger."
"Mon Dieu! how you frighten me! what has happened, in heaven's name?"
"My dress caught fire, my love; it was all ablaze, and I never suspected it!"
"Oh! heaven!"