The two young men were sitting outside a _cafe_ on the Boulevards, and drinking liquors mixed with water, those aperients which look like infusions of all the shades in a box of water-colors. They were nearly the same age, twenty-five to thirty. One was dark and the other fair, and they had the same semi-elegant look of stock-jobbers, of men who go to the Stock Exchange, and into drawing-rooms, who are to be seen everywhere, who live everywhere, and love everywhere. The dark one continued. "I have told you of my connection with that little woman, a tradesman's wife, whom I met on the beach at Dieppe?" "Yes." "My dear fellow, you know what it is. I had a mistress in Paris, whom I loved dearly; an old friend, a good friend, and it has grown into a habit, in fact, and I value it very much." "Your habit." "Yes, my habit, and hers also. She is married to an excellent man, whom I also value very much, a very cordial fellow. A capital companion! I may say, I think that my life is bound up with that house." "Well?" "Well! they could not manage to leave Paris, and I found myself a widower at Dieppe." "Why did you go to Dieppe?" "For change of air. One cannot remain on the Boulevards the whole time." "And then?" "Then I met the little woman I mentioned to you on the beach there." "The wife of that head of the public office?" "Yes; she was dreadfully dull; her husband only came every Sunday, and he is horrible! I understand her perfectly, and we laughed and danced together." "And the rest?" "Yes, but that came later. However, we met, we liked each other. I told her I liked her, and she made me repeat it, so that she might understand it better, and she put no obstacles in my way." "Did you love her?" "Yes, a little; she is very nice." "And what about the other?" "The other was in Paris! Well, for six weeks it was very pleasant, and wre returned here on the best of terms. Do you know how to break with a woman, when that woman has not wronged you in any way?" "Yes, perfectly well." "How do you manage it?" "I give her up." "How do you do it?" "I do not see her any longer." "But supposing she comes to you?" "I am ... not at home." "And if she comes again?" "I say I am not well." "If she looks after you?" "I play her some dirty trick." "And if she puts up with it?" "I write to her husband anonymous letters, so that he may look after her on the days that I expect her." "That is serious! I cannot resist, and do not know how to bring about a rupture, and so I have a collection of mistresses. There are some whom I do not see more than once a year, others every ten months, others on those days when they want to dine at a restaurant, those whom I have put at regular intervals do not worry me, but I often have great difficulty with the fresh ones, so as to keep them at proper intervals." "And then...."