_Lady B._--"That's quite a mistake, my dear; their apparent indifference is really respect, and, thanks to that respect, we can go where we like in peace and safety. I don't mind telling you that I have my doubts about the real motives of the politeness of Frenchmen." _La Comtesse._--"How can you talk like that? you, who come from a country where a man thinks nothing of pushing past a lady and making her stop in the street, or of entering a railway carriage before her! No matter where he may be, a Frenchman will always stand aside to let a woman pass...." _Lady B._--"Yes, to have a better look at her. Now, at the theatre, for instance, to me they are particularly annoying, your Frenchmen. Between the acts, they come and stand about in the corridors and near the boxes, and there, a yard or two from you, they will examine you in detail through their opera-glasses. You may think yourself lucky if they do not forthwith pass all sorts of remarks about you. That kind of thing annoys and insults a woman. You may call it gallant, if you like; I call it rude." _La Comtesse._--"Rather impertinent, I will admit." _Lady B._--"Impertinent, indeed! that is a mild word for it. Do you know, one evening--it was at the Opera--I was in a box ... a little _décolletée_ ... _en losange_, you know ... it was very fashionable in 1880." _La Comtesse._--"It will come in again, you may be sure, _c'était mutin en diable_." _Lady B._--"What did you say it was?" _La Comtesse._--"I said it was _mutin en diable_. Does that shock you?" _Lady B._--"Yes, a little: it reminds me of an expression of my husband's." _La Comtesse._--"What expression?" _Lady B._--"I don't like to tell you." _La Comtesse._--"What nonsense, dear; it's only between ourselves: nobody else can hear." _Lady B._--"Well then, it was one evening on coming home from a banquet, he told me I was _damned_ pretty." _La Comtesse._--"Did he? (_kissing her._) Well, so you are." _Lady B._--"How would you say that in French? Would you say _jolie à faire ... damner_?" _La Comtesse._--"_Jolie en diable_ would be better." _Lady B._--"I forgave him that night; he had been dining, as only our husbands in England know how to dine.... When my husband comes home late, I always wait up for him. Do you for yours?" _La Comtesse._--"Of course I do, always. Besides, when the Count has dined out, he is so entertaining." _Lady B._--"I cannot say the same of Lord B.: he is a little bit dull in his cups." _La Comtesse._--"Well, dear, you were saying that you were at the Opera one night in a low-necked dress, and that...." _Lady B._--"Yes, true. I was forgetting; do lend me a needleful of your pink silk.... Oh! that is soon told: it was neither an event nor an adventure. As I told you, I was seated in my box.... Well, during one of the _entr'actes_, two gentlemen came and took up their position in front of me, and never took their eyes off my _corsage_ the whole time. I was indignant."