"Did madame enjoy herself yesterday at Nogent?" asked the maid. "Madame returned at daybreak, I believe. Was there a carriage there to bring madame back to Paris?"
"Oh! my dear Lizida, I have many things to tell you. Yes, some young gentlemen brought me back in their carriage. They were very good-looking, those same young gentlemen, and dressed in the latest fashion. But if you knew whom I met at the party! I am still all of a quiver thinking of it!"
"Some suitor, some lover of madame, who would have liked to abduct her by force, to carry her off into the country?"
"Oh, no! you are nowhere near it!—At that party I met—my husband!"
"Is it possible?"
"Yes, Lizida, and you must understand how that upset me. Luckily it was in the woods; he was not very near me, but I recognized him instantly; he has hardly changed at all; it is surprising, but I really thought that he was better-looking than he used to be."
"And of course he recognized madame too?"
"Oh! instantly; I saw that by his expression."
"He looked at madame with affection, I warrant?"
"No, there was no affection in his eyes. He is such a proud man, so absurdly proud! Just imagine that everybody else had left, and we two were all alone in the woods."