"I might deceive you and allow you to think this, chevalier, but you are too brave and gallant a man to be abused--at present," continued Angela, with a gracious and confidential manner, "I will tell you all. Listen to me. The first time I married, I had but to choose, it is true. O, heavens! suitors presented themselves in swarms, and I chose--very well, too. Then my second marriage: it was even then not the same thing. People had commented on the singular death of my first husband, and suitors had already begun to reflect before declaring themselves. However, as I am not stupid, thanks to determination, cajolery and coquetry, I succeeded in getting a second husband. Alas! it was not without trouble. But the third. Oh, you have no idea all the trouble I had; truly I was in despair!" "Ah, madame, why was I not there!" "Doubtless, but, unhappily, you were not. If they talked about the death of my first husband; you can judge what they said about that of my second. People began to distrust me," said the widow, shaking her pretty little head with an expression of ingenuous melancholy. "What would you have? the world is so meddling, so slanderous; men are so strange!" "The world is stupid and egotistical, foolish," cried Croustillac, filled with pity for this victim of calumny. "Men are cowards and fools who believe all the gossip which is told them." "What you say is very true. You are not so, my friend?" "She calls me her friend," cried Croustillac, in a transport; and he answered, "No, certainly not, and I am not so." "Doubtless," said the widow, "you are very different; you spoil me by accepting my proposition so quickly." "Say, rather, that I am beyond bounds overjoyed at it, madame." "You spoil me," continued the widow, with an enchanting smile, and throwing a tender glance at the chevalier. "I assure you you spoil me; you are so easy, so accommodating. Ah! how shall I replace you?" "Replace me?" "Yes, after you, friend." "After me?" "Yes, certainly, after you." "Madame, I do not understand you. I do not wish to understand." "It is very simple; how can I hope to find another like you, who will marry me so willingly? Ah, no, such men are rare!" "How, madame, after me?" cried Croustillac, overcome by this idea. "You dream, then, of a successor to me?" "Yes, friend," replied the widow, with the most touchingly sentimental air imaginable; "yes, for when you are no more I must renew my quest, seek, ask, and find a fifth husband. Think, then, of the difficulties and obstacles to overcome. Perhaps I shall not succeed. Think, then, a widow for the fourth time. You forget that; it is a fact, however; my friend, after you, I shall be a widow for the fourth time."