Gradually the room was filling with people, and the seats around the table were taken.
Beside the baroness a man of about forty had taken a chair. He was tall, robust, broad-shouldered, with black, kinky hair and white teeth.
“Why, my boy, you here?” exclaimed the baroness.
“And how about you?” he retorted.
He was a second or third cousin of the baroness; his name was Horacio.
“Didn’t you tell me that you invariably retired at nine?” asked the baroness.
“It’s only an accident that I came here. It’s the first time.”
“Bah.”
“I assure you it is. Shall we go in it together?”