"Had she not a lover called Armand Duval?"

"Tall and blond?"

"Yes.

"It is quite true."

"Who was this Armand?"

"A fellow who squandered on her the little money he had, and then
had to leave her. They say he was quite wild about it."

"And she?"

"They always say she was very much in love with him, but as girls
like that are in love. It is no good to ask them for what they
can not give."

"What has become of Armand?"

"I don't know. We knew him very little. He was with Marguerite
for five or six months in the country. When she came back, he had
gone."

"And you have never seen him since?"

"Never."

I, too, had not seen Armand again. I was beginning to ask myself