"Well! if with that amount the wife was not the mistress, it would be funny!"

"But he had nearly twenty thousand francs a year."

"Then you must have lived very handsomely! Ah! your maid must have been very lucky! madame is so n.o.ble, so generous! madame was born to be waited upon; anyone can see that at once."

"But my husband became jealous, so jealous that he made himself ridiculous!"

"Ah! that is another fault of these men! to be jealous! and what good does it do them, I ask you? None at all, except to bore their wives! and when a woman is bored, why, bless my soul, she seeks some sort of distraction! I say, madame, as monsieur le baron had become so jealous, it seems to me that you should not have been very sorry to be left a widow.--Dear me! what lovely pink cheeks madame has to-day!"

Madame de Grangeville smiled at herself in the mirror which stood before her; then, throwing herself back in an armchair, she said with a little sigh:

"Ah! you don't know all, Lizida. What I am going to tell you will surprise you tremendously! but you must be very discreet, and never mention it to anyone!"

"Madame must know me, she knows that I am not a chatterbox; I would rather be chopped in pieces than betray a secret."

"Well, my dear, I am not a widow."

"Oho! is it possible? Madame's husband is still alive?"

"Yes, and what is more, I know from someone who has met him lately that he is living in Paris at this moment."

"Well, that is news indeed; the Baron de Grangeville is alive!"

"Not the Baron de Grangeville, for that isn't his name; I did not choose to bear his name any longer."

"I understand; so madame is not really a baroness then?"

"I was a countess, Lizida, which is much better; for my husband is a count!"

"Oh! excuse me, madame, excuse me! madame la comtesse! Ah! 'madame la comtesse'! how lovely it is to say that! will you allow me to call you that, madame?"

"No, you would become accustomed to it; besides, I don't want that t.i.tle any more, it would remind me of a time that I wish to forget."

"Oh! of course, since madame was so unhappy with her husband, that she was obliged to leave him--after many years, no doubt."

"Why, no; we had been married hardly three years when we separated."

"Only three years! That isn't very long! Was he very unkind from the beginning, that husband of yours?"

"Yes, he began to be very--very ridiculous at once!"

"Madame had no children?"

"No, I had none."

"That is very lucky, for sometimes there is a dispute as to who shall have the children, or who shall not have them; whereas, when there are none, it's: 'Adieu, bonsoir; we can't live together any longer, let us part!'--Isn't that the way it's done, madame?"

"Not quite so easy as that when you wish to separate according to law, and that is what we did, Monsieur de--my husband having his separate property and I mine, we both took our own."

"Ah! but if your husband should die, madame, would you inherit from him?"

"No indeed, I should not get a sou."

"How unjust that is! Just think of that! A poor little woman gives herself to a man who makes her unhappy, and if he dies, she doesn't inherit! And monsieur le comte, your husband, has at least twenty thousand francs a year, you say?"

"Oh! in more than nineteen years that have pa.s.sed, it seems that he has doubled his fortune at least, in undertakings, speculations."

"What! nineteen years madame has left her husband?"

Madame de Grangeville made a gesture of irritation, and the maid made haste to add:

"No, no, that is not possible; madame made a mistake; doubtless madame meant to say nine years."

"Yes, you are right, I did make a mistake; it is much less. However, what does it matter? It is of no use to think about that any more."

"I beg pardon, madame,--don't be offended at what I am going to say; it is an idea that came into my head, and I submit it to you."

"Go on; you know very well that I never am angry."

"Well, since madame's former husband is so rich, and madame finds herself annoyed, besieged by those demons of creditors, as we have been for some time--suppose madame should send to monsieur le comte and ask him to let her have a few thousand-franc notes--would he refuse them?"

"O Lizida! that is impossible!"

"Why so? Just let madame tell me her husband's name and address, and I will willingly undertake the errand."

"It is impossible, Lizida, because I don't choose to do it, because I shall never apply to the count. No, I would prefer to be deprived of everything, rather than let him know my position. Besides, he would reply: 'You had your property, madame. You should have kept it.'"

"Kept it! kept it! That is very easy to say; but madame has such a kind heart, she is so n.o.ble, so generous--madame has too n.o.ble a mind to know how to calculate. Pshaw! it is only the petty bourgeois who do that!"

"But they are wise, perhaps!"

"To think that madame is not a widow! I cannot get over it. So that is the reason that madame does not marry. See how wicked it is to forbid divorce!"

"If only those infernal Mouzaias would go back to the price I paid for them! I absolutely must have some money; I am going to Nogent in four days; they are going to have theatricals, there'll be a great many people there, and I must have another bonnet; mine is no longer fresh enough."

"It is true that it is beginning to be unworthy of madame; and madame is always so well dressed that everybody always admires her costume!"

"Yes, I used to be one of the women who were famous for their taste in dress; I set the fashion."

"Madame might set the fashion again if she would."

"Say rather if I could, my dear Lizida! But listen--someone rang; if it is Monsieur de Merval, you will let him come in; he is the person whom I met at the Glumeaus'."

"But if it's an _Englishman_----"

"A creditor! Mon Dieu! you know well enough what you must say to them, for you are used to receiving those fellows."

"Oh yes, madame, I will get around him."