“I don’t know if I resemble a sailor, but I do know that I feel very uncomfortable. This adventure so soon after dinner--the charlotte russe lies heavy on my stomach. Come, my dear Blémont, let’s not laugh; help me to get out of this fix; I will do as much for you, and you may need me soon, for you are a terrible fellow too,--the terror of husbands. Great God! how you have maltreated the poor devils!” “If I can be of any service to you I shall be glad to, but I don’t quite see how, unless I make Montdidier think that it was I who was in the cab with his wife; but that would not rehabilitate the reputation of his Hélène, and that is what we must think of first of all.” “That is so, that is what we must think of; although, since she put her finger in my eye, I am not in love with her at all. It is amazing how ugly she looked to me at that moment!” “She has not always looked ugly to you. She has been kind to you, and you must try to acknowledge it by saving her good name.” “Yes, she has been kind to me, but I don’t want any more of her favors. Oh, even if it can all be straightened out, I say again, no more flirtations with married women, no more illicit love-affairs. Unmarried girls or widows, women without entanglements,--they’re all right; with them one doesn’t have to hide all the time, to make long détours and hire cabs.” “All such dangers are what give piquancy to that sort of intrigue.” “Thanks; that same piquancy is very pleasant. Oh! just let me get out of this scrape, and I will turn over a new leaf, I will become incorruptible so far as the ladies are concerned. But if I am to have time to turn virtuous, Montdidier must not blow my brains out.--Come, my friend, let us think what it is best to do.” “Go to Giraud’s; you can see whether Montdidier is there with his wife; and according to the way he behaves to you, you can easily judge whether he recognized you, and how he has taken the thing.” “Go there and expose myself to his fury, to his wrath, before everybody? surely you don’t mean it, my friend?” “A man of breeding doesn’t take society into his confidence in such matters.” “I told you that Montdidier was a brutal fellow.” “If he thinks that he has been wronged, he won’t go to a party with his wife.” “That is true; but there is another way to make sure, and that is for you to go to Giraud’s. If our husband and wife are there, you can watch them, and you will be able to tell at once on what terms they are; furthermore, you might slyly give the lady to understand that you have just left me. What do you say? Oh! my dear Blémont, do me this favor; go to Giraud’s.” “I will do it solely to oblige you, for the business agent’s receptions are not very interesting; and this evening I intended to go to see some very agreeable ladies.” “You can see your ladies to-morrow, they will be in the same place. Besides, perhaps they are married ladies, and who knows that I am not saving you from some unpleasant scrape?”