"Monsieur le marquis is right," said Férulus; "we should not speak without knowledge. Everybody talks about the fair Helen, but few people know that she had five husbands: Theseus, Menelaus, Paris, Deiphobus and Achilles; that she was hanged in the Isle of Rhodes by the women servants of Polyxo; and that, during the war of which she was the cause, eight hundred and eighty-six thousand men died on the side of the Greeks and six hundred and seventy-six thousand on the side of the Trojans."
"Oh! mon Dieu! he has got onto history again!" said Eudoxie to Alfred.
"Monsieur," said Cornélie to Férulus, "Greek and Roman names make my ears ache; pray talk to us about more modern things."
Monsieur Férulus bowed and swallowed a glass of burgundy, to wash down this little snub. Meanwhile, Robineau, to demonstrate his affection to his future bride, tenderly pressed her foot with his; but Mademoiselle Cornélie gave a little shriek and exclaimed:
"Dear me! who is treading on my foot like that? Is it you, monsieur?"
Robineau turned crimson and stammered:
"Yes, I confess that I wanted to make you understand——"
"I don’t like to have people tread on my feet! You hurt me terribly! I beg that you won’t do it again."
Robineau, covered with confusion, looked at the floor, uncertain whether he should or should not throw himself at Cornélie’s feet; at last, to relieve himself from his embarrassment, he turned the conversation once more upon the subject of Isaure.
"To return to the young girl of the mountains, mesdames, the most surprising thing about her is that she lives all alone near a place which is the terror of the people of the next village. That place is a house called the White House."