The guests rallied a little under the approach of food. The princes came in rather sulkily, but as they found some particular friends in the dining-room they recovered enough to behave a little worse than anyone had quite expected, which was gratifying to Flaubert, for they only behaved well when they were bored. A famous danseuse who had just arrived was quite shocked; she was accustomed to quieter manners. Only Madame Torialli’s untroubled child-like blue eyes remained as serene as ever. She took the boisterously pronounced attention of Prince Ivan and his roars of laughter with an air of such perfect blandness and self-possession as to rob his behaviour of half its barbarism.
“Una and the Lion,” the Marquis de Trévaillant pointed out to Romain D’Ucelles. Romain lifted his eyebrows and looked at Madame Torialli.
“Ah, my dear Marquis,” he said. “Did Una first incite the Lion before she tamed him?”
“You see too much,” said his friend.
Romain laughed.
“That robs my speech of half its sting,” he murmured. “One need say so little, you know, if one has been fortunate enough to see too much!”
Jean overheard his uncle and hated him. He felt that he must speak or die.
“Madame Torialli is trying to save the situation, my uncle,” he said stiffly. Romain laughed.
“Ah! Is that you, my dear Jean?” he said. “Surely it must be, one cannot have two such ingenuous nephews! You must not think I underrate your clever friend. She is one of those kind-hearted women who are so fond of saving situations that they create them first. It is the true instinct of the reformer! Our charming ancestress Eve, now, I fancy, had the same motive in urging the fruit upon Adam. She had no opportunity, you see, to raise his nature until after the fall! Think of it! Eternity in a garden with a good man! What a horrible idea! It is enough to intrigue any woman!”
“Farceur!” laughed the Marquis de Trévaillant. “And now we have eaten, what happens next? It is another hour before the Revue can begin. What a tedious affair! And these artists of yours, when do they come, Monsieur D’Ucelles?”