Gustave angrily resumed his seat at the table, and held out his plate, saying to his companion: "Very good! then I will eat, too! Give me some capon, Arthur; give me a lot of it!" "Ah! good, good! spoken like a man! Now you're a man again! There's nothing left of the capon but one drumstick and the carcass, but they're the most delicate parts." "Give them to me, give them to me! Oh! what a fool, what an idiot, I have been! To give way to despair for a woman who makes sport of me, who eats everything, when she knows that I am consumed by grief!" "You acted like a fool, and that's just what I've been killing myself telling you." "Give me some wine!" "Bravo! let's drink! This champagne is delicious, and I know what I'm talking about." "Yes, I will think no more of her, I will forget everything, I will love some other woman." "Pardieu! that's the true way! In love especially, I believe in homoeopathy." Gustave swallowed his glass of wine at a draught, then ate a few mouthfuls with a sort of avidity; but he soon pushed his plate away, and let his head fall on his breast, muttering: "Oh! no, I shall never love another woman; I know well enough that it would be impossible." "The deuce! here he is in another paroxysm of his passion! We shall have some difficulty in curing the dear boy; but we will succeed, even though that should necessitate our not leaving him for a second for ten years to come! Be yourself, Gustave, and finish your story, which, I presume, must be drawing near its end, and which interests me in the highest degree." "Yes, yes; you are right!--I was saying that one morning, having gone to Monsieur Gerbault's house, I found Mademoiselle Adolphine alone. She greeted me with such a sorrowful air that I could not refrain from asking her what caused her sadness, and she replied: 'I suffer for your sake, I am grieved for you; for I know how dearly you love my sister, and I foresee how you will suffer when you learn that she is going to be married, and not to you.' "'Great heaven!' I cried; 'can it be possible? Fanny, false to me! Fanny, give herself to another!' "'Yes,' said Adolphine. 'It seems to me that it is especially cruel to let you hope on, when her marriage to Monsieur Auguste Monleard was decided on a fortnight ago.' "'She is going to marry Monsieur Monleard!' I cried; 'she throws me over for that man! And she smiled at me only yesterday when I swore to love her all my life!' "'That's the reason I determined to tell you all,' said Adolphine. 'I did not choose that you should be deceived any longer.' "I need not tell you what a state of despair I was in. Adolphine tried in vain to comfort me; I could not believe in Fanny's treachery, and I insisted upon seeing her, and learning from her own lips that she preferred my rival to me.