“Why, I don’t see how I could have said yes, madame; that would have been a lie.”
“Great heaven! what an astonishing creature you are with your scruples! As if people never lied in society! Why, you must know that one is driven to it sometimes, that it is absolutely necessary. However, I propose that you shall make the acquaintance of my boudoir, so that you can answer that lady when she questions you again.—Come to breakfast with me to-morrow.”
“Oh! how kind you are, madame!”
“Will you come? will you be allowed?”
“Will I be allowed! Am I not my own master, pray?”
“Perhaps.—I shall expect you then to-morrow, at twelve o’clock; and we will breakfast in my boudoir; so that you may have plenty of time to make its acquaintance, and to tell madame la comtesse what you think of it.”
“Oh! I am willing to bet in advance that it is prettier than hers, and not so dark.”
Madame Célival smiled, placed her hand softly in Chérubin’s, and walked away, murmuring almost inaudibly:
“Until to-morrow!”
Chérubin, enchanted with his new assignation, incontinently forgot Madame de Valdieri’s disdain; he recovered his spirits and his assurance, sought out Monfréville, who was at the card-table, and whispered: