Letting the curtains fall together she came and faced Lucien, who looked
at her and smiled.

"I heard all he said. I listened."

"Interesting, wasn't it?" Lucien answered. "It is a marvel to me how
fast news travels, and how important unimportant things become. I
shouldn't Wonder if he knows exactly what I have eaten to-day."

"Paris knows something of Latour," she answered. "He is not a man to
waste his time over trifles."

"It certainly appears that he considers me of some consequence since he
troubled to visit me."

"And you lied to him."

"My dear Pauline, you are imaginative. Kiss me. You are a delightful
creature. I never spend an hour in your company but I discover some new
grace in you."

Her kisses were not to be had when she was angry.

"You lied to him and you have deceived me," she said, still standing
before him, her body erect, her hands clinched.

"It is not always advisable to speak the exact truth, you know that well
enough, Pauline; but I have not deceived you. Does a man deceive the
woman he really loves?"