"What?" he said. "You know me?"
"As if everybody didn't know everybody in Paris! We're all in the same boat. But it was horrid of me to speak to you as I did. You are a good fellow. I can see that. Come; calm yourself. Shake hands! Let us make peace!"
They shook hands, and went on talking amicably. She said:
"It is not my fault, you know. I have had so many experiences with men that I have become suspicious."
"They have deceived me, too, many a time," said Christophe. "But I always give them credit for something better."
"I see; you were born to be gulled."
He began to laugh:
"Yes; I've been taken in a good many times in my life; I've gulped down a good many lies. But it does me no harm. I've a good stomach. I can put up with worse things, hardship, poverty, and, if necessary, I can gulp down with their lies the poor fools who attack me. It does me good, if anything."
"You're in luck," she said. "You're something like a man."
"And you. You're something like a woman."