"Oho! so it is already over?"
"Already? An amourette that lasts two months—is not that long enough?"
"It's a long time!"
"It is too long!"
"It is never too long when one is happy."
"And then a mother arrived—a very unamiable person, so it seems, who had been absent a long while. If I had still been in love, the obstacles that would thenceforth have made our rendezvous an affair of some difficulty would have served only to sharpen my desires; but my love was extinct. Faith! the little one may look out for herself now as best she can; it is no longer any concern of mine."
"Well said! Of course, a gentleman could not run the risk of a controversy with churls!"
"Faith! messieurs, for my part, I care for none but grandes dames! They are so adroit in carrying on an intrigue, they display so much coquetry, that it keeps you in breathless suspense! A fellow is much more in love when he is not certain that he is loved in return!"
"And you, Sire de Beausseilly?"
"I! do you suppose that I have patience to make love to a woman? to dance attendance on her and languish and sigh? Nonsense! never! I like the love affairs that give one no trouble!"