The performance came to an end. They walked home slowly, very slowly; they did not seem in any haste to arrive. Éléonore talked about the play; the young man answered yes and no at random, but he pressed very tenderly the arm that was passed through his, and the caress seemed in no wise to offend her to whom it was addressed.
On reaching home, Madame Dubotté invited her young escort to come soon to play bézique with her, while her husband went about without her according to his custom. Callé promised to take advantage of her invitation.
And so, during the following week, Monsieur Callé went almost every evening to play bézique with fair-haired Éléonore; and she was no longer out of temper when her husband went out without her. Indeed, she sometimes said to him:
"My dear, if you have any business on hand, don't put yourself out for me; Monsieur Callé will come and stay with me. He is very strong at bézique, and never has enough of it; he is indefatigable!"
Dubotté was enchanted.
"At last I have trained my wife!" he cried; "she is just what I wanted her to be! She isn't on my back all the time now; she leaves me entirely at liberty. That is what I wanted to bring about; I had hard work, but I have succeeded. She goes to the theatre with Callé now, without showing any temper, even when I don't go after her."
The young woman did more than that: when her husband promised to secure a box for her, she always said:
"Try to get a baignoire, my dear!"
XVII
INCORRIGIBLE
Adhémar went to see Nathalie every day; during the day, he gave her all the time which his literary labors left at his disposal, and passed all his evenings with her. He often discussed with her his ideas, his plans for new plays; and sometimes read a scene to her, or a chapter of a new novel. He consulted her and profited by her advice. If Molière consulted his maid-servant, is it not much more natural to consult one's mistress? There is this difference, however: Laforest, Molière's servant, was proud and happy to be consulted by her master; whereas, out of twenty mistresses, there will be nineteen who will not listen to you when you talk literature to them, who will yawn when you read them a page that you have just written, or who will interrupt you at the most interesting point to say: