“True, lieutenant; I am in the wrong. I’ll go on drinking with Schtrack, but I won’t talk with his wife any more, because I don’t want it said that an old moustache like me talks gossip.”
Although he had scolded Bertrand, Auguste remembered Madame Schtrack’s statement; and, when he thought of the abuse Léonie had heaped upon the little man, he could not avoid conceiving some suspicions. We may agree that we do not deserve a faithful mistress, but we can never forgive her for her infidelity.
“Léonie must be horribly false, horribly treacherous!” said Auguste to himself. “Why need she pretend to love me, unless she retains her hold on me for selfish reasons, or unless she loves two men at once? Such things have been known.”
As he walked down Boulevard Montmartre, Auguste felt a light touch on his arm. He turned; Mademoiselle Virginie stood before him.
“I am very lucky to meet you, monsieur,” she said, looking at Auguste with a certain expression in which there was something most seductive; indeed, Mademoiselle Virginie made many conquests, because she had adopted the habit of imparting that alluring expression to her eyes; and although Auguste knew her glances by heart, he still took delight in looking at her, especially when it was a long time since her lovely black eyes had been fastened upon him.
“Oh! although you look at me with a smile,” she continued, “that doesn’t prevent me from being horribly angry with you.”
“Really? you are angry with me?”
“Monsieur, I beg you not to address me so familiarly! Have we ever been on intimate terms?”
As she spoke, Mademoiselle Virginie burst into a roar of laughter that caused several passers-by to turn their heads; for in Paris very little is required to attract the attention of the passers-by. In fact, there was one man who stopped, and who, presumably because he had never in his life heard anyone laugh, was about to ask Virginie what the matter was; but a glance from Auguste led him to walk on.
“You make me laugh, when I haven’t the slightest inclination to,” said Virginie, suddenly assuming a most serious air.