"Oh! you can't think it; it reminds me of such a happy time!"
"Why, I don't see but that that time has come back; for we are in the same position that we were then--almost."
Gustave could not restrain a sigh at that _almost_. The young widow made haste to continue:
"And now that I am free, that I am my own mistress, won't you do me the favor of coming to see me sometimes, Monsieur Gustave? Won't you have a little pity on the tedium of a poor widow, who was so anxious for you to come back, who talked about you every day with Adolphine?"
"What, madame! can it be true? you have thought sometimes of me?"
"He asks me if I have thought of him! he doubts it!--Is it because you had altogether forgotten me?"
"I, forget you? Ah! that would be impossible! Your lovely features are engraved on my heart, on my mind. Although far from you, I saw you all the time. Ah! Fanny, when one has once loved you.--But, pardon me, madame, I am losing my head; I call you Fanny, as I used."
"That doesn't offend me in the least; on the contrary, I like it. But just see what faces Monsieur Batonnin is making at us! One would say that he was trying to throw his eyes at us. Mon Dieu! how funny he is when he looks like that! Ha! ha! ha! it's enough to kill one."
"Madame Monléard is in great spirits to-night," said Monsieur Clairval to Monsieur Batonnin, who replied:
"I've noticed that she's been in much better spirits ever since she's been a widow."
"That Monsieur Batonnin, with his soft-spoken ways, always has something unkind to say," muttered Madame de Mirallon.
"And he smears honey on his words, to make them go down; that's the custom."
Adolphine had walked mechanically to the piano; she was suffering intensely, she would have liked to leave the salon, but she dared not, because it would have worried her father. To make her misery complete, Monsieur Batonnin joined her.
"Are we going to have the pleasure of hearing you sing, mademoiselle?"
"No, monsieur; I could not possibly sing; I have a very sore throat."
"I trust, mademoiselle, that you are not still offended with me because I thought that you looked ill?"
"Oh! not at all, monsieur; indeed, I think that you must have been right, for I don't feel very well this evening."