One day, while talking with Adolphine, Fanny suddenly asked: "By the way, do you know who that man was whom Monsieur Monleard employed to inform me of his death? I never saw him at the house, and yet Auguste must have been intimately acquainted with him to intrust him with such a commission." "That was Monsieur Cherami." "Yes, that's the name he gave me when he left his address and offered me his services. He has a most original aspect, that individual. But who is Monsieur Cherami, anyway? When I asked him to go to tell you, he seemed to know father's name." "Indeed! he probably learned it from Gustave." "Does the man know Gustave too? For heaven's sake, does he know everybody? Was it through Gustave that he knew my husband, also?" "Why, yes, in a certain sense; for----" "For what? Do go on, Adolphine; I don't know what's the matter with you nowadays, but I have to tear the words out of your mouth." "I thought you knew about it at the time. Your husband fought a duel the day after your wedding." "I know all about that; with a fellow who called out, when I left the ball that night: 'There goes the faithless Fanny!'--Mon Dieu! I remember it as well as if it were yesterday. But what connection----" "The man who made that remark when he saw you leaving the ball was Monsieur Cherami." "That man? nonsense! Do you mean to say that it was he whom my husband fought with?" "Yes, it really was." "Ha! ha! ha! that is too funny!" "What! you laugh?" "Why shouldn't I laugh, pray? Ah! how little idea men have of what they want, and how richly they deserve, as a general rule, that we should make sport of their mighty wrath! Think of it! Monsieur Monleard fights a duel with Monsieur Cherami, and, a few weeks later, selects him as the confidant of his last wishes! You see that men don't know what they are doing, and that these lords of creation, who assume to deem themselves much more reasonable than we, are infinitely less so." "There may have been other reasons that we don't know about." "Oh! you will always take sides with the men!" "Why accuse those who are no longer able to defend themselves?"