“I dismiss you from my service,” cried her master, in a fury.
“Go down stairs directly, Marianne,” said her mistress sternly.
“I dismiss you,” repeated Dupuis; “though they should be the last words I have to speak in my own house, they shall be obeyed. I dismiss you from my service! It is your fault also, my dear Reine,” he added when the maid had gone from the room; “you allow your servants to be too familiar with you. You see the consequence. I hope you understand that I have dismissed that woman?”
“Yes, George,” answered the lady gently; “I will settle her wages to-morrow morning, if you do not change your mind.”
“Change my mind!” exclaimed her husband. “Am I accustomed to change my mind every five minutes? Am I a weathercock, or do you deem me so weakened by age that I can submit to be lectured by my own servants?”
“I beg you, dear, not to say another word on the subject. She shall go away to-morrow. But I want to know, George, if you have all you need. Let me look into your trunk, will you? Men don’t know much about wearing-apparel, and when one is travelling the merest trifle that is missing suffices to put one out of sorts for the whole day. I know that you can buy whatever you want, but where’s the use when you can avoid it? And then, too, I wish to make you think of me all the time, you gadabout!”
“Do as you like, love,” said George; “here are the keys.”
“Well, Tom,” he continued, when the lady had closed the door behind her, “it seems to me that she received the news very well indeed.”
“Perfectly; do you know, George, your wife possesses some great qualities?”
“I know she does,” returned Dupuis, looking inquisitively at his friend’s serious, almost downcast countenance.