“Why, she had nothing for dinner but bread.”
“This is a very excellent find that you’ve made! So, monsieur, when you left Paris, in order to be prudent and economize, here you are with a woman on your hands barely sixty leagues from Paris!”
“Bah! what can you expect? Is it my fault? Come, Bertrand, don’t scold; hereafter I’ll reflect a little more; meanwhile let us abandon ourselves to our destiny.”
Auguste returned to the young woman and Bertrand followed him, saying to himself:
“I am very much afraid he’s incorrigible.”
The young woman promptly resumed possession of Auguste’s arm.
“My dear friend,” he said to her, “as the diligence has gone off without us, we need not hurry now.”
“Oh, not at all.”
“We can even pass a day or two here.”
“I should like to if it would gratify you.”