"That's it, let's go and have supper," said Gaston.

"No, we will have supper here."

She rang, and Nanine appeared.

"Send for some supper."

"What must I get?"

"Whatever you like, but at once, at once."

Nanine went out.

"That's it," said Marguerite, jumping like a child, "we'll have
supper. How tiresome that idiot of a count is!"

The more I saw her, the more she enchanted me. She was
exquisitely beautiful. Her slenderness was a charm. I was lost in
contemplation.

What was passing in my mind I should have some difficulty in
explaining. I was full of indulgence for her life, full of
admiration for her beauty. The proof of disinterestedness that
she gave in not accepting a rich and fashionable young man, ready
to waste all his money upon her, excused her in my eyes for all
her faults in the past.

There was a kind of candour in this woman. You could see she was