"Well, Mademoiselle Valerie de Chatenoeuf," began Monsieur, as soon as the gentlemen had left us, "is it because you have found out that you have got a handsome brother, that you are determined to drive all other handsome young men _au desespoir_?--or is it that you wish to break the heart especially of this _pauvre Monsieur de Chavannes_, that you have treated us all with an air _si hautaine, si hautaine_, that if you had been the Queen of France, it could not have been colder?" "I told you once before, Monsieur Gironac," I replied, "that your Count de Chavannes does not care a straw how I treat him, or with what air. And if he did, I do not.--He is simply a civil, agreeable gentleman, who looks upon me as he would upon any other young lady, whom he is glad to talk to when she is in the humour to talk; and whom, when she is not, he leaves to herself, as all well-bred men do. But, I repeat, I do not care enough about him, to think for one moment, whether he is _hautaine_ or not. And he feels just the same about me, I am certain." "What brings him here then, eh?--where he never came before to-night? not for the _beaux yeux_ of Madame, I believe," with a quizzical bow to his wife, "or for the _grand esprit_ of myself. I have an eye, I tell you, as well as other people, and I can see one _petit peu_." "I have no doubt you can, Monsieur," I answered, rather pettishly; "for I suppose you asked him yourself; and, if you did so on my account, I must beg you will omit that proof of kindness in future, for I do not wish to see him." "Oh! Monsieur Gironac, for shame, you have made her very angry with your ridiculous badinage--you have made her angry, really, and I do not wonder. Who ever heard of teasing a young lady about a gentleman she has never seen, only three times, and who has never declared any preference?" "Madame," replied her husband, in great wrath, either real or simulated, "_vous etes une ingrate,--une,--une_--words fail me, to express what I think of your enormous and unkind ingratitude. I am _homme incompris_, and Mademoiselle here--Mademoiselle is either _une enfant_, or she does not know her own mind. Shall I give the Comte Chavannes his conge, or shall I not? I shall not,--for if she be _une enfant_, it is fit her friends look after her; if she does not know her own mind, it is good she have some one who do!--_voila tout_. Here is why I shall not go _congedier monsieur le Comte_. Why rather I shall request him to dine with me to-morrow, the next day, the day after. If he do not, I swear by my honour, _foi de Gironac_, I will dine at home again never more."