"I tell you, messieurs," said the Baron de Montrevert, shaking his head with an air of importance, "that a change in humor, in disposition, never happens without a cause."
"Well! do you know what the cause is, Montrevert?" inquired Sénange.
"Oh! perhaps! perhaps!"
"He knows it, messieurs, he is going to tell us what it is. Speak, my dear fellow, speak, we will not lose a syllable!"
"I will tell you, messieurs, what someone told me—the reports that are current; I vouch for nothing, however."
"The preamble is perfect! Come down to the facts, advocate."
"Well! this is what people say: for several months past, Jarnonville has been a frequent visitor at the Hôtel de Marvejols, where the young countess lives."
"Oh! the deuce! is it so? And what does he go there for?"
"Why, it seems to me to be very easy to guess; he goes to see our friend Léodgard's wife."
"The bath keeper's daughter!"