I should hate her, my mousmé, if she were to entice Yves into
committing a fault,--a fault which I should perhaps never be able to
forgive.




XXX.

_August 12th_.


The Y---- and Sikou-San couple were divorced yesterday. The Charles
N---- and Campanule household is getting on very badly. They have had
some annoyance with those prying, grinding, insupportable little men,
dressed up in suits of gray, who are called police agents and who by
threatening their landlord, have had them turned out of their
house--under the obsequious amiability of this people, there lurks a
secret hatred towards us Europeans--they are therefore obliged to
accept their mother-in-law's hospitality, a very painful position. And
then Charles N---- fancies his wife is faithless. It is hardly
possible, however, for us to deceive ourselves: these would-be
maidens, to whom M. Kangourou has introduced us, are young people who
have already had in their lives one, or perhaps more than one,
adventure; it is therefore only natural that we should have our
suspicions.

The Z---- and Touki-San couple jog on, quarreling all the time.