"Excuse me, mademoiselle; I should be much distressed to have offended you; it was my friendship for you which led me to----" "I myself, monsieur, have never been able to understand the kind of friendship which leads one to say to people point-blank: 'Mon Dieu! how you have changed! you are deathly pale! are you ill? you look very poorly!' If the person to whom you say it is really well, then you have seen awry; if she is really ill, you run the risk of making her worse by frightening her as to her condition. In either case, you see, it would be better to say nothing. Such manifestations of interest resemble those of the friends who can't reach you quickly enough when they have bad news to tell, but whom you never see when you have had any good fortune for which congratulations would be in order." Monsieur Batonnin bit his lips, and tried to think of an answer; but they had ceased to pay any heed to him, for the door of the salon opened once more, and this time it was Gustave who appeared. XLV JOYS AND TORMENTS OF LOVE The young man, having shaken hands with Monsieur Gerbault, walked toward Adolphine and her sister; it was easy to see how excited and perturbed he was; but Adolphine, whose emotion was even greater perhaps, hastily left her seat and, after responding to Gustave's greeting, went to talk with Monsieur Clairval, who was not playing cards at that moment; so that there was no one to interfere with the interview which Gustave desired to have with her sister. As for Fanny, she was absolutely unembarrassed; she smiled sweetly on Gustave, greeted him as if she had seen him the day before, and said, pointing to a seat by her side: "So here you are at last, monsieur le voyageur! Mon Dieu! you seem to be imitating the Wandering Jew nowadays; you travel all the time, you are never at rest. Do you know, monsieur, that your friends are not reconciled to your long absences, and you surely will put an end to your peregrinations--unless you have a fancy to discover a new world?" Gustave, bewildered by the jocular tone in which the widow addressed him, was unable for a moment to find words in which to reply. Fanny interpreted his confusion to her own advantage, and continued, but with a change of manner, and in an almost sentimental tone: "Many things have happened since we met." "Yes, madame; I have heard of the--loss you have sustained; and I beg you to believe that I shared the grief which you must have felt."