“Yes, madame, I wish to see Monsieur Dalville.”
“If it is anything that someone else can say to Auguste, I will undertake to do so, madame.”
“You are too kind, madame, but I wish to speak to Monsieur Dalville in person.”
“Ah! I understand. Auguste is already acquainted with madame, I presume?”
“Yes, madame, I have the honor of Monsieur Dalville’s acquaintance.”
“As Auguste tells me all his business, I might be able to answer madame, if she cared to explain the purpose of her call.”
“Am I to understand that madame is now commissioned to receive the persons who may call on Monsieur Dalville?”
“That may be, madame.”
“Monsieur Bertrand, you ought to have told me—to have spared me—But I absolutely insist on speaking to Monsieur Dalville. Let him know that I have just a word to say to him. Then I will leave him at peace with madame.”
“If I had had a chance to answer sooner, madame, I’d have told you before this that my lieutenant hasn’t come home from the ball yet; that’s why madame was waiting in the small salon.”