"The last time I saw you," said she, "you dropped a remark that pained me, but I am pleased to think that you did not mean to do so."
"I am a terrible culprit," he rejoined, "and I smite myself upon the breast therefore. I was wanting in respect to your idol."
"Fortunately, my idol knew nothing about it, and, if he had known, I would have appeased him by saying: 'Pardon this young man; he does not always know what he is saying.'"
"He even seldom knows it; but what help is there for it? A man given to fainting always did seem a curiosity to me. I know we should endeavour to conquer our prejudices; every country has its customs, and, since Poland is a country that pleases you, I will make an effort to see only its good sides."
"Now that is the right way to talk. I hope this very day to reconcile you with Count Larinski; stay and dine with us--he will be here very soon; the first duty of the people whom I love is to love one another."
M. Langis at first energetically declined accepting this invitation; Antoinette insisted: he ended by bowing in sign of obedience. Youth has a taste for suffering.
Tracing figures in the gravel with a stick he had picked up, M. Langis said, in a wholly unconstrained voice: "I do not wish M. Larinski any harm, and yet you must admit that I would have the right to detest him cordially, for I had the honour two years ago, if I mistake not, of asking your hand in marriage. Do you remember it?"
"Perfectly," she replied, fixing upon him her pure, clear eyes; "but I ought to avow to you that this fancy of yours never seemed to me either very reasonable or very serious."
"You are wrong; I can certify to you that your refusal plunged me for as much as forty-eight hours into the depths of despair--I mean one of those genuine despairs that neither eat, drink, nor sleep, and that speak openly of suicide!"
"And at the end of forty-eight hours were you consoled?"
"_Eh! bon Dieu_, it surely was time to come to reason. I had hesitated a long time before asking your hand, because I thought, 'If she refuses me, I cannot see her any more.' But I still do see you, so all is well!"
"I? Never! I shall die a bachelor. An aspirant to the hand of Mlle. Moriaz, being unable to win her, could not care for another woman. Nothing remains but to strike the attitude of the inconsolable lover."