"Well, what then? He wasn't there, was he? He didn't say anything, confirm anything?"
"But Violette! Violette! When the little man told her that he had seen her go into his neighbor's room and come out rumpled and excited, she didn't say to him: 'You are a liar!'—If it hadn't been true, do you think that she wouldn't have contradicted that evil-tongued fellow and confounded him?"
"Oh, bless my soul! I don't know! You should ask her to explain it all to you."
"Ask her to explain—so that she could lie some more to me! Oh! I didn't need any explanation. Besides, she saw my grief, my despair, and she let me go away, she didn't say a word to justify herself. Come, Chicotin, do you still believe her innocent now?"
"Bless me! yes."
"Yes? Ah! if I could only think like you! I have been so unhappy since I have been unable to say everywhere that I love her! She is pale, she is sad, she is changed, and how can I find out what causes her sadness?"
"Wait! wait! I see someone yonder who can tell us better than anybody else the truth of the matter. Look, do you see that young man crossing the boulevard?"
"Monsieur Jéricourt! It is he! Let me go, Chicotin, I am going to speak to him."
"Not much! What will you say to him, I should like to know?"
"I don't know; but I will force him to tell me if he is Violette's lover."