We heard the door open and shut.

"At last," cried Marguerite, coming back, "he has gone! That man
gets frightfully on my nerves!"

"My dear child," said Prudence, "you really treat him too badly,
and he is so good and kind to you. Look at this watch on the
mantel-piece, that he gave you: it must have cost him at least
three thousand francs, I am sure."

And Mme. Duvernoy began to turn it over, as it lay on the
mantel-piece, looking at it with covetous eyes.

"My dear," said Marguerite, sitting down to the piano, "when I
put on one side what he gives me and on the other what he says to
me, it seems to me that he buys his visits very cheap."

"The poor fellow is in love with you."

"If I had to listen to everybody who was in love with me, I
shouldn't have time for my dinner."

And she began to run her fingers over the piano, and then,
turning to us, she said:

"What will you take? I think I should like a little punch."

"And I could eat a little chicken," said Prudence. "Suppose we
have supper?"