"I am entirely at your service, monsieur, and it will give me great pleasure to escort madame."
"What! you are going to leave me, Philémon? you are going to send me home with monsieur, whom I hardly know?"
"Why, bless my soul, Nonore! I don't see that monsieur has a very terrifying aspect. Besides, he is a friend of Mirotaine, and the cousin of a man with whom I am very intimate; so he isn't a stranger to me."
"I don't care for that; you know very well that I am not in the habit of taking any man's arm but yours."
"Exactly; and it's a most absurd idea, of which you must cure yourself."
With that, the fair-haired beau took his wife's arm from within his own and turned it over to the young man, who was modestly waiting.
"My dear Monsieur Callé," he said, "I intrust my wife to you, and my mind is entirely at ease; I am convinced that you won't lose her."
"Oh! no, monsieur; I will not leave madame until she is safely inside her door."
"Thanks.—Au revoir, Nonore! go right to bed; I shan't be late."
"Philémon! Philémon! you are going away without kissing me!"