"Nearly three o'clock, monsieur le vicomte." "Really? Give me a cigarette." "Here it is, monsieur." "I will finish dressing.--What in the devil am I going to do to-day, Lépinette? Do you know?" "I think that monsieur told three of his friends, Messieurs Florville, Dumarsey, and Lamberlong, to call for him to ride in the Bois." "Ah, yes! you are right. Yes, those gentlemen were to call for me.--This one isn't well made; give me another." "Here is one, monsieur." "To ride in the Bois--always the same thing; it's horribly monotonous.--Lépinette, you must find something to amuse me." "I should like nothing better; but monsieur le vicomte is so exacting! Things that would delight other gentlemen are indifferent to him, or displease him." "That is true; I am hard to amuse. I resemble Louis XIV in that. I hoped to find something new when I came back to Paris.--This one draws badly; give me another." "Here is one, monsieur." "But no--nothing new or exciting!" "There are some very pretty women in the quarter, monsieur." "Bah! according to your taste, not mine!--But don't I hear horses in the courtyard?" "Yes, monsieur; they are your friends, who have called for monsieur le vicomte, no doubt." "Bigre! and I am not dressed! Never mind! they can wait.--Give me a cigarette." XIX THE VISCOUNT'S FRIENDS The viscount's friends entered his salon in riding costume, hunting crop in hand. The first was a tall youth of nearly six feet, and so slender and frail that he seemed in danger of breaking in two when he stooped; especially as he was always dressed in the latest style, and squeezed and pinched himself so that not the slightest crease could be detected in his clothes. Many ladies envied that young man his figure. His name was Florville, and his face was not unattractive. The second was a young man of medium stature, whose hair was bright red, as were the rims of his eyes; which did not prevent him from esteeming himself a very good-looking fellow; he dared not turn his head, for fear of rumpling his collar or disarranging the knot of his cravat. He was an habitué of the Théàtre-Italien; he never missed a performance, insisted on posing as a great connoisseur in music, and declared that he could easily have reached high C, if his voice had been cultivated; but it had not been. This individual, so laughable by reason of his manners and his pretensions, was Monsieur Lamberlong. The third of the viscount's visitors was a man of about thirty, remarkable neither for beauty nor ugliness, rather stout than thin, with a good-humored, smiling face, and all the manners of a high liver. His name was Dumarsey.