"Flatter me? Bah! what difference do you think that it makes to me? When one has no love for a man, what does one care what people say about him?"
"Monsieur de Santoval seems to be very much in love, himself!"
"In love with me?—Hum! yes, perhaps he is; but he is very proud, very haughty, and, above all, very jealous of his honor!"
"And of madame too, probably?"
"Why, of course, as the two go together!—What a strange thing!"
"What is strange, madame?"
"Nothing! nothing!"
And Valentine smiled, as if she had had the thought which Beaumarchais many years later put into the mouth of Comte Almaviva in Le Mariage de Figaro.
"Has not Joseph returned, Miretta?"
"No, madame, not yet."