"I believe it is time for us to think of separating. I feel a little tired, my friend. You will go home with Herr von Brunzbrack, will you not? He is a little--tipsy, and I should be sorry if anything happened to him. And, although he has his carriage here, he is quite capable of refusing to go home." "Yes, yes; I will put him in the hands of his servants. But just a moment; why need we separate so soon?" "The clock has just struck half-past three." "Suppose it has? what does the time matter, when we are so comfortable and our own masters?" "Oh! as far as that goes, nobody is more uncontrolled than I am now. Stay on, if you choose. But, if you do, you must tell me something, confide in me. Do you fence?" "Yes; why?" "Because, if you do, you must come here and fence with me; it's a form of exercise that I am very fond of." "What! do you really know how to handle a foil?" "And very prettily too, I flatter myself. I told you that I was a man; so, of course, I have learned the things that go to perfect a man's education." "Then you must ride too?" "Oh! that is another exercise that I adore. We will ride together--and you will see that I am not afraid, and that I have a good seat. But you don't seem to be listening to me! What in the deuce shall I talk to him about?--Poor boy, talk to me about Armantine. It is such a joy to speak of the person one loves! And you are very much in love with her, aren't you?" I confess that at that moment I was thinking much less of Madame Sordeville. So that I replied, rather coldly: "I was very much in love with her; but her treatment of me to-night cooled me off." "Oh! when a man is really in love with a woman, monsieur, he doesn't cease to love her just because she flirts a little with other men; on the contrary, he often loves her all the more for it." "Coquetry has never had that effect on me." "Go and see Armantine in a few days, in the daytime. I'll wager that she will be very amiable to you." "So the lady is capricious, is she?" "Exceedingly capricious." "That is a failing which I have never been able to endure." "Ah! but when one loves a woman, one loves her with all her failings." "My theory is that when one really loves, one is not capricious in dealing with the object of one's love. Consequently, I am persuaded that all these women who have caprices don't know what it is to love." "Perhaps you are right. But I think that Armantine is in reality very susceptible." "You think so? You are not sure?" "How is one to be sure of other people? one is not always sure of one's self." We sat for some time without speaking; but to me that silence was not without charm. It is often pleasant to think, in the company of a person who is thinking at the same time. Suddenly Frédérique looked me in the face and said: "Well, Charles! you don't seem to talk about Armantine?" "I have so little hope!"