"I should have been afraid of being discourteous if I failed to do so."
"And does she still make the same show, is she still as fashionable as ever? For she was a coquette in everything; she must have the most sumptuous furniture; the most trivial object in her apartments must have the stamp of the most refined elegance!"
Monsieur de Merval shook his head slightly as he replied:
"Oh, no! it's not like that at all now; Madame de Grangeville's household has undergone the same change as her person!"
"Is it possible that her tastes have changed too?"
"Oh, no! not her tastes! I presume that they are still the same; but it is her means that have changed; I believe that she is ruined!"
"Ruined!"
"Or practically so!"
"But she had twelve thousand francs a year!"
"Yes, but that was twenty years ago; and in twenty years, a person who loves luxury and pleasure can consume much more than that. In fact, I found Madame de Grangeville in a small and very modest apartment, on a fourth floor; and the furniture of that apartment was very far from handsome!"