"I was on my way there when I met him. He told me all about his cousin, and we had quite a long talk; he seems a very pleasant fellow."
"That's funny, for he hardly spoke a word to me."
"He looks as if he was very bashful. However, I asked him to come to dinner to-morrow, and he seemed much flattered by the invitation."
"What's the sense of having him to dinner?"
"My dear love, we must have a little company, deuce take it! we can't live like bears!"
"You never ask my friends!"
"If there were any pretty women among them, I'd invite them fast enough, never fear! but they vie with one another in ugliness."
"That does not prevent their being agreeable!"
"For my part, I find them mortally tiresome."
Young Callé, who was deeply touched by Dubotté's invitation, did not fail to appear promptly, after taking the most minute pains with his costume; for his bashfulness did not prevent his being a good deal of a dandy. Éléonore greeted her quondam cavalier graciously enough, although he could not succeed in uttering the compliment he tried to address to her; the little woman felt more at ease with a bashful young man, and she liked him much better than Monsieur Bruneau, the frequenter of cafés.