"My heart is indifferent—but—but he is very handsome—don't you think so?"
"Hush! here he is."
"I have the happiness, madame, to present Monsieur le Marquis de Secqville, with whom, as you are aware, we are about to have the honor of being nearly allied."
So said Monsieur le Prun, with a smile of conjugal affection, which may, or may not, have been genuine.
"I was not until now aware of the full extent of the honor and the happiness involved in that alliance," said the marquis, with a glance of respectful admiration.
Madame le Prun acknowledged this little speech with a slight bow, and a cold and haughty smile.
"You have been in the south lately?"
"Yes, madame, with my regiment at Avignon."
"So he says," interrupted the fermier-general, with a cunning leer; "but his colonel swears he never saw him there."
"Then either you or your colonel must be wrong," said Madame le Prun, drily.