"Be sure, madame, that I shall be only too happy to prove my zeal."
"Madame, accept my most respectful homage.--I don't know whether she is sincerely fond of Gustave," thought Cherami, as the charming widow left him, "but it is certain that she is burning to see him again."
Fanny had been a widow more than six months, when, as Cherami was approaching Monsieur Grandcourt's abode one morning, he saw Gustave come out. He uttered a joyful exclamation, and hastened to throw his arms about the young traveller, crying:
"_Tandem_! _denique_! here he is at last! this is good luck, indeed! Damnation! you've been away a long while, but we will hope that it's the last time."
"Good-day, my dear Arthur!" said Gustave, as they shook hands. "Were you coming to see my uncle?"
"Your uncle! Sapristi! he's a dear creature, is your uncle; let's talk about something else. Why, I have been here a hundred times; I wanted to get your address, so that I could write to you or come after you; but it was impossible to obtain the slightest information from your uncle. When did you return?"
"Last night, at nine o'clock. But why were you so anxious to know where I was? What had you to tell me that was so important?"
"We had a talk this morning, on business; that's all."
"Ah! the old fox! there's no danger that he would tell you what interested you most."
"Your former passion, that little woman you loved so dearly----"
"No, no! she's not dead; she's in bewitching health, she's just as pretty as ever, and more than that--she's a widow."
"A widow! Great heaven! can it be possible?"
"It's more than possible, it's so. Her husband speculated in stocks, and ruined himself; then, _crac_! a pistol-shot--you understand."
"Oh! what a calamity! Why, it's perfectly ghastly; how long ago was it?"
"Almost immediately after you went away."
"Poor Fanny! she expected to find her happiness in that marriage; how she must have grieved! how bitterly she must have wept!"
"My dear Gustave, you don't know that young woman at all. She has very great strength of character; she received the news of her husband's death with a stoical courage worthy of the Spartan women who sent their sons to war, bidding them to return as victors or not at all."