"Thunder of Jupiter! Widow Louchard, what do you take me for, I'd like to know? Do you think I'm a thief, a pickpocket? I had a hat and a cane, and on leaving a ball I took a hat and a cane. They're not the ones that belong to me; I made a mistake, I was in error, and that may happen to anybody--_errare humanum est_, do you understand? No, you don't understand; never mind. But to carry away anything to which I have no right--fie! for shame!--To prove that I wouldn't do such a thing--I found a glove, and I returned it. Let me tell you, madame, that a man may be without money, have debts, borrow and not pay, and even play cards on his word--for if I had lost last night, I shouldn't have been able to pay on the spot; but all those things don't prevent one's being an honest man." "Mon Dieu! Monsieur Cherami, I don't say they do; you go off all of a sudden, like a spitfire!" "Last night, I confess, I had dined very well. I wasn't drunk; I never get drunk; I was simply a little confused, which fully explains all these mistakes; and now, I feel as if I could take something." "Would you like to have me make you a nice onion soup, while you're getting up? There's nothing that'll set you up better, the day after a spree." "Onion soup! I do not disdain that dish; but I am tempted to look higher, and I believe that a good chicken---- But what's all that noise? I should say that a carriage was stopping in front of the hotel! Go and look, my dear hostess." Madame Louchard went to the window. "Yes, it is," she said; "a handsome private cabriolet, with a fine dapple-gray horse, and a groom in livery! And there's a young dandy getting out; he's looking at the house; he's coming in; it must be for me." "For you? Oh! no, it's for me, by all the devils! It must be that young husband, and here am I still in bed! I must dress at the double-quick." Cherami jumped out of his bed, in his nightshirt; whereupon Madame Louchard instantly took flight, crying: "I don't like this sort of thing, Monsieur Cherami; I told you not to get up before me. And a man who don't wear drawers, too!" "Aha! my dear hostess, it would seem that you risked a glance! Oh! these women! they are all descended from Lot's wife! It's a pity that they're not changed into salt nowadays at every indiscretion; that would make a handsome reduction in the price of that product!" XVIII A DUEL WITHOUT WITNESSES It was, in fact, Monsieur Monleard who had alighted from the cabriolet, and, having scrutinized the exterior of the furnished lodging-house, had ventured into the rather gloomy hall of that establishment. There he looked in vain for the concierge; but the proprietor often served in that capacity, and it was she herself who hastily descended the stairs. "Do you know a certain Monsieur Cherami in this house, madame?" "Yes, monsieur; indeed I know him, as he's my tenant." "Ah! very good. Would you kindly direct me to his room?" "Second floor, second door on the right."