"
"I should prefer a garret here."
"So thought I," said Montes, "since I sold all my land and possessions
at Rio to come back to Madame Marneffe."
"A man does not make such a voyage for nothing," remarked Madame
Nourrisson. "You have a right to look for love for your own sake,
particularly being so good-looking.--Oh, he is very handsome!" said
she to Carabine.
"Very handsome, handsomer than the _Postillon de Longjumeau_," replied
the courtesan.
Cydalise took the Brazilian's hand, but he released it as politely as
he could.
"I came back for Madame Marneffe," the man went on where he had left
off, "but you do not know why I was three years thinking about it."
"No, savage!" said Carabine.
"Well, she had so repeatedly told me that she longed to live with me
alone in a desert--"
"Oh, ho! he is not a savage after all," cried Carabine, with a shout
of laughter. "He is of the highly-civilized tribe of Flats!"
"She had told me this so often," Montes went on, regardless of the
courtesan's mockery, "that I had a lovely house fitted up in the heart
of that vast estate. I came back to France to fetch Valerie, and the
first evening I saw her--"
"Saw her is very proper!" said Carabine. "I will remember it."
"She told me to wait till that wretched Marneffe was dead; and I
agreed, and forgave her for having admitted the attentions of Hulot.
Whether the devil had her in hand I don't know, but from that instant
that woman has humored my every whim, complied with all my demands
--never for one moment has she given me cause to suspect her!--"
"That is supremely clever!" said Carabine to Madame Nourrisson, who
nodded in sign of assent.
Pages:
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535