"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that I lent them to Fœdora, to play in private theatricals, and she admitted that she let her best friend wear them the next day, to a wedding; but as his calves are exceptionally big, he ripped a few stitches when he took them off."
"Mon Dieu! this is what comes of lending your things!"
"Is a person to presume that her lover will ask her to return what he lends her?"
"Mademoiselle, I am not a capitalist, a dealer in novelties. I have never pretended to play the grand seigneur with you."
"Oh! anyone can see that!—Catch it, Raoul."
"Don’t throw cherry-stones at me, please.—What am I to do? It’s eight o’clock already; to be sure, I know that people go very late to large receptions."
"Sometimes they don’t go till the next day; it’s more comme il faut."
"But I counted on those stockings."
"You must buy some more; there’s a place across the street where they sell them."