With that, La Thomassinière abruptly left the salon, without saluting Auguste, whom he left there alone.
“The stupid ass!” said Dalville, as he took his hat; “does he suppose that I didn’t notice the change in his manner as soon as he knew that I was a ruined man? And Athalie! I thought that she had more feeling! But what can one expect from a woman to whom dress and pleasure are everything? And such is this ‘society,’ where everyone seeks to shine, whose suffrage is eagerly sought, and in which we pass a great part of our lives! Are all these people worth the trouble of wasting a regret on them, I wonder?”
And Dalville left La Thomassinière’s house, vowing that he would never go there again.
XVII
THE FIFTH FLOOR
“Lieutenant,” said Bertrand to Dalville, one morning, “we have forgotten something in our reformation, but the approach of rent-day reminds me of it: it’s the matter of lodgings. You must agree, lieutenant, that a fifteen-hundred franc suite is rather too heavy for our budget, in which the expense account is always lengthening, while the receipt account is a blank page.”
“You are right, Bertrand, we must give notice.”
“When I mentioned the subject to Schtrack yesterday, he told me that there’s an Englishman who will take the apartments at any time if we want to leave them; it seems to me, lieutenant, that it would be the wisest plan to move right away.”
“Do what you choose, Bertrand.”
“Especially as there’s a small bachelor’s apartment on the fifth floor, that might suit us: two rooms and a large dressing-room. It’s vacant, and if it won’t be unpleasant for you to stay in this house——”
“Why should it? Have I any reason to blush because of my changed fortune? I am the dupe of villains, but I have made no dupes. We will go up four flights. Hire the bachelor’s apartment.”