At the end of the street in a _coupé_. [_The bell rings_.] There he is, and for the last time, thank God! SCENE II. (_The same characters, and_ M. de Sallus.) M. DE SALLUS [_enters. To_ Jacques de Randol, _who has risen to take his leave_] Well, you are not going again, are you? Why, it seems that I need only come in to make you take your leave. JACQUES DE RANDOL No, no, my dear fellow; you don't make me go, but I must. M. DE SALLUS That is just what I say. You always go the very moment I come in. Of course, I understand that a husband is less attractive than a wife. But, at least, let me believe that _I_ am not objectionable to you. [_Laughs_.] JACQUES DE RANDOL On the contrary, my dear fellow, you know I like you. And if you would acquire the habit of coming into your own house without ringing the bell, you would never find me taking my leave when you come. M. DE SALLUS How is that? Is it not natural to ring the door bell? JACQUES DE RANDOL Oh, yes; but a ring of the bell always makes me feel that I must go, and surely, coming into your own house, you can dispense with that habit. M. DE SALLUS I don't understand you. JACQUES DE RANDOL Why, it is very simple. When I visit people whom I like, such as Madame de Sallus and yourself, I do not expect to meet the Paris that flutters from house to house in the evening, gossiping and scandalizing. I have had my experience of gossip and tittle-tattle. It needs only one of these talkative dames or men to take away all the pleasure there is for me in visiting the lady on whom I happen to have called. Sometimes when I am anchored perforce upon my seat, I feel lost; I do not know how to get away. I have to take part in the whirlpool of foolish chatter. I know all the set questions and answers better than I do the catechism itself, and it bores me to have to remain until the very end and hear the very last opinion of some fool upon the comedy, or the book, or the divorce, or the marriage, or the death that is being discussed. Now, do you understand why I always get up and go at the sound of a bell? M. DE SALLUS [_laughs_] What you say is very true. Drawing-rooms now are not habitable from four o'clock to seven, and our wives have no right to complain if we leave them to go to the club. MME. DE SALLUS [_sarcastically_] Nevertheless, I do not see my way to receiving ballet girls, or chorus girls, or actresses, or so-called painters, poets, musicians, and others--in order to keep you near me. M. DE SALLUS I do not ask so much as that. All I desire is a few witty fellows, some charming women, and by no means a crowd. MME. DE SALLUS You talk nonsense; you cannot pick and choose. JACQUES DE RANDOL No, truly, you cannot sift and strain the flow of idiocy that you meet in the drawing-rooms of to-day. M. DE SALLUS Why? MME. DE SALLUS Simply because it is as it is--to-day. M. DE SALLUS