"And you kept telling me that the child was well!"
"What would you have had me tell you? I couldn't say that she was ill, because I didn't know.—In short, for nineteen years I have tried very often to think of that address, but it hasn't come back to me yet."
"And so, monsieur, by your fault, I am deprived of my daughter forever, and the poor child is without a family! It is shocking!"
"Pardon me, madame, pardon me; on mature reflection—in the little one's behalf first of all—I am not sure that it is a great calamity that she has never known the secret of her birth; she would still have been in a false position; and then life in Paris wouldn't have been as good for her health as the fresh country air—especially in Picardie. That's an excellent region; they drink cider there, which is very healthy. If she is still alive, I am sure that she must be in good health. She lives in the fields and woods—bless my soul! she is happier, no doubt, than she would be here; especially as I could never give her an establishment with the remains of my fortune."
"But what of me, monsieur?—do you make no account of my regrets? I am deprived of my daughter's caresses!"
"I beg pardon, madame, but the longing for those caresses takes you rather tardily."
"Why, monsieur, it is twelve years since I last saw you."
"But for seven years we were almost never apart, and you were perfectly willing to leave the child at nurse; you asked me about her sometimes—at long intervals; but you never said: 'Do send for her.'—You thought that the attention you would have to give the child would disturb your pleasures; and for my part, I believe that her presence would embarrass you even more now; for the girl is nineteen years old; and a daughter of nineteen would be terribly repugnant to you; she might rob you of conquests!"
"Monsieur, you do not mean to insult me, I trust?"
"By no means, my dear friend! We have had an explanation, and I have confessed the truth. 'I had to do it!' as Bilboquet says; and now I will take my cane and my hat and return to my Marais."