"I tell you, we did well to part; we are much better pleased to see each other."

"Oh! I know that you are pa.s.sionately fond of variety."

"No, my friend, not so much of variety as of forbidden fruit; and when I think that Gerville is at our right, Raymond at our left, and that I have succeeded in avoiding the necessity of eating in his company the dinner he ordered--ha! ha! ha!"

"Don't laugh so loud!"

"Oh, yes! that will rea.s.sure him, don't you see? he will think that Gerville's in good humor.--Ha! ha! ha! it will bring back his appet.i.te."

Agathe was in the wildest spirits; she was compelled to hold her napkin over her mouth to stifle her outbursts of merriment; the pleasure of deceiving two men at once gave to her face an unfamiliar expression; she had never been so pretty in my eyes, I confess. She teased me, pinched me, caressed me, threw her arms about me. Ah! Mademoiselle Agathe, you were a perfidious creature, but most seductive! Moreover, for several days, I had been making love with my eyes alone, and I felt that it was inc.u.mbent on me to make our mystification of Raymond complete.--Ah! my poor neighbor! if you but knew what ardor Agathe showed in mystifying you!

But we heard someone coming upstairs; it was our waitress. That young woman had an abundance of tact and penetration; she turned the k.n.o.b at least thrice before she opened our door. She brought the first course. I tasted the wine; it was Volnay, first quality. Gad! my neighbor was a connoisseur!

"Oh! you'll have a fine dinner," laughed the girl; "the gentleman didn't forget anything: champagne, dessert, and the _coup de milieu_!"

"Aha! so we're to have the _coup de milieu_!" said Agathe; "we musn't forget that, my friend, do you hear?"

"Never fear.--By the way, my girl, did our neighbor question you?"

"Yes; I told him that madame was dining with two gentlemen; he seems a little easier in his mind."

"That is good."

We did full justice to Raymond's dinner; it was dainty and toothsome. In a quiet moment, I asked Agathe to tell me how it happened that she had come there to dine in a private room with my neighbor, whom she did not like at all.

"I did it to have a better chance to make fun of him," she replied.

"Ever since the day we waited on your landing to see your little flower girl, Raymond has been pleased to make love to me. He pesters me with his declarations and his billets-doux, which I receive just to show them to the girls in the shop; and they make a lot of sport for us, for his style's as ridiculous as his person. He had asked me twenty times for an a.s.signation, when I happened to meet him to-day near Porte Saint-Denis.

I was just going home; I had been to Gerville's, but didn't find him.

Raymond urged me, begged me, to dine with him at a restaurant. I refused at first; but the temptation to make a fool of him, to laugh at his expense, in short, to have some sport, led me to change my mind.

Besides, you know what a heedless creature I am. I didn't expect to meet Gerville, for whom I care very little, however. So I accepted, and allowed myself to be conducted to a private room by poor Raymond, who believed that his triumph was a.s.sured, whereas I never had the slightest intention of granting him any favors."

"Here's to his health!"

"With all my heart."

"Is this the _coup de milieu_?"

"One moment! how fast you go! we haven't got to it yet. This vol-au-vent is delicious, and so is this filet saute, with madeira and truffles."

"And this salmi of partridges, also with truffles. Ah! poor Raymond! do you see his game? he ordered truffles in everything!"

The waitress arrived with the rum and the next course.

"Good Lord!" exclaimed Agathe; "truffles with champagne sauce! why, he'll kill us with 'em! What is our neighbor eating?"

"Chicken, with rice, madame."

"Good! that's very nourishing; give him some prunes for dessert; they're an emollient."

The girl left us. We enjoyed the truffles, the chicken, and the crabs, whose claws Agathe wanted to send to Raymond. We did not forget the _coup de milieu_; my companion thought a great deal of that, and so did I. With his dinner _de bonne fortune_, that philandering Raymond had put the devil into us; he evidently thought truffles a necessity in his _parties fines_! But, by sending me to take his place with Agathe, he had allotted me a terrific task!

"Avenge yourself," she kept saying to me, "avenge yourself, Eugene; you know that Raymond is responsible for our having seen your little vestal leave your rooms; you know, too, that he used to make remarks to the people in the house when I came to see you; you know that by his inquisitiveness and chattering he has made trouble between you and several women. Avenge yourself; still avenge yourself!"

What terrible creatures women are when it is a question of vengeance!

Agathe still urged me, and yet my spleen was rapidly vanishing. Luckily, the girl brought the dessert. Champagne, fromage a la vanille, biscuits a la rose, gelee au marasquin, and Madame Amphoux's liqueur des Iles. I was lost! Raymond was determined to have my life!

"I would like to know what he's doing now," said Agathe; "just go and speak to him."

I left the room, and she held the door ajar to listen; I coughed gently at Raymond's door, which he instantly opened.

"Well! how far have you got?" he asked.

"Oh! everything is going along nicely, very nicely! we are eating dessert."

"And Gerville?"

"Oh! he's forgotten everything!"

"I was afraid that he would make a scene with Agathe. I thought I heard groans and sighs."

"They were of repentance and love; and then, she still pretends to be jealous; but I see plainly enough that she is thinking only of you."

"Oh! she adores me, my friend; I can't doubt that."

"Your dinner is delicious; you do things very well, Monsieur Raymond."

"Yes, yes; I ordered it for a purpose! I expected to partake of it with her!"

"She knows that you ordered it, and she is just as much obliged to you.

I can see in her eyes that she doesn't eat a truffle without thinking of you."

"Dear Agathe! But I hear laughter, it seems to me."

"Yes, that is she. She laughs with her lips, to deceive him; but the fromage fouette awaits me; adieu, my friend!"

"What! haven't you drunk the champagne yet!"

"Not yet."

"But you look rather heated."

"It's the _coup de milieu_ that gives me that appearance."

"Tell me, had I better go away before or after you?"

"Why, before--that would be the wiser way."

"I'll take a stroll in the garden of the Cafe Turc, in front of the pavilion that bears a crescent."