Gustave bit his lips and said no more. Monsieur Batonnin joined him, and said with a smile: "You don't seem to be doing anything, Monsieur Gustave. Don't you play cards?" "I don't care for cards, monsieur." "You prefer to talk with the ladies--I can understand that. You have been travelling, too; and the ladies like to hear about travels. Have you seen any volcanoes?" "No, monsieur." And Gustave turned his back on Batonnin, who smiled at his own reflection in a mirror. The count soon took his hat, and was about to withdraw, without a word, as the custom is in society; but Fanny, who had kept her eyes on him, found an excuse for standing in his path, and said to him in an undertone: "I shall expect you to-morrow." Monsieur de la Beriniere replied by a graceful inclination, and disappeared. A few moments later, Fanny said to Gustave: "Well, monsieur; if you want to go, I am at your service." "I am at yours, rather, madame." "Let us go." Adolphine went up to Gustave of her own motion, and pressed his hand affectionately. In the street, the young man began: "Monsieur de la Beriniere's conversation evidently interested you very much? You talked with nobody but him; you left your sister and me, and forgot all about us." "Why, I enjoyed listening to what he told me about Italy. He is very pleasant, and amusing to listen to. I didn't suppose that you would see any harm in that." "I see no harm in the conversation; but I am horribly bored when you talk to anybody else for long. I am sorry that you don't feel the same way." "Oh! what childishness! As if I were not always there!--How my head does ache! I shall have a sick headache to-morrow, I am sure." "You will go to look at that apartment, won't you?" "Yes, if my head doesn't ache; but if it does, I certainly shall not stir from my bed." They arrived at Fanny's door, and the future husband and wife parted much more coldly than usual. The next morning, the young widow gave these orders to her servant: "If Monsieur le Comte de la Beriniere calls, you will admit him at once. If Monsieur Gustave comes, you will tell him that I have a sick headache, that I am asleep; and you will not let him in on any pretext. Do you understand?" "Yes, madame." Fanny took the greatest pains with her hair, her dress, and every part of her toilet; she omitted nothing that was adapted to captivate, to dazzle, to seduce. At one o'clock, Monsieur de la Beriniere was ushered into the pretty creature's boudoir, where she awaited him, seated in a graceful attitude on a sofa, and motioned him to a seat by her side. "You see, fair lady, that I take advantage of the permission accorded me," said the count, gallantly kissing Fanny's little hand. "It was presumptuous in me, perhaps, to tell you that I expected you; but I wanted to talk with you, and one has little chance to talk in society."