He turned to her, and said: "My dear Bertha, since this singular chance has brought us together after a separation of six years--a quite friendly separation--are we to continue to look upon each other as irreconcilable enemies? We are shut up together, _tete-a-tete_, which is so much the better or so much the worse. I am not going to get into another carriage, so don't you think it is preferable to talk as friends till the end of our journey?" She answered quite calmly again: "Just as you please." Then he suddenly stopped, really not knowing what to say; but as he had plenty of assurance, he sat down on the middle-seat, and said: "Well, I see I must pay my court to you; so much the better. It is, however, really a pleasure, for you are charming. You cannot imagine how you have improved in the last six years. I do not know any woman who could give me that delightful sensation which I experienced just now when you emerged from your wraps. I could really have thought such a change impossible...." Without moving her head or looking at him, she said: "I cannot say the same with regard to you; you have certainly deteriorated a great deal." He got red and confused, and then, with a smile of resignation, he said: "You are rather hard." "Why?" was her reply. "I am only stating facts. I don't suppose you intend to offer me your love? It must, therefore, be a matter of perfect indifference to you what I think about you. But I see it is a painful subject, so let us talk of something else. What have you been doing since I last saw you?" He felt rather out of countenance, and stammered: "I? I have traveled, shot, and grown old, as you see. And you?" She said, quite calmly: "I have taken care of appearances, as you ordered me." He was very near saying something brutal, but he checked himself, and kissed his wife's hand: "And I thank you," he said. She was surprised. He was indeed cool and always master of himself. He went on: "As you have acceded to my first request, shall we now talk without any bitterness?" She made a little movement of surprise. "Bitterness? I don't feel any; you are a complete stranger to me; I am only trying to keep up a difficult conversation." He was still looking at her, carried away in spite of her harshness, and he felt seized with a brutal desire, the desire of the master. Perceiving that she had hurt his feelings, she said: "How old are you now? I thought you were younger than you look." He grew rather pale. "I am forty-five;" and then he added: "I forgot to ask after Princess de Raynes. Are you still intimate with her?" She looked at him as if she hated him: "Yes, I certainly am. She is very well, thank you." They remained sitting side-by-side, agitated and irritated. Suddenly he said: