"How absurd!"

"We take so many things from the English just now that we might well
become as great prudes and hypocrites as themselves," said Henri.

Laurent had set before his master such a quantity of utensils, so many
different articles of such elegance, that Paul could not refrain from
saying:

"But you will take a couple of hours over that?"

"No!" said Henri, "two hours and a half."

"Well, then, since we are by ourselves, and can say what we like,
explain to me why a man as superior as yourself--for you are superior
--should affect to exaggerate a foppery which cannot be natural. Why
spend two hours and a half in adorning yourself, when it is sufficient
to spend a quarter of an hour in your bath, to do your hair in two
minutes, and to dress! There, tell me your system."

"I must be very fond of you, my good dunce, to confide such high
thoughts to you," said the young man, who was at that moment having
his feet rubbed with a soft brush lathered with English soap.

"Have I not the most devoted attachment to you," replied Paul de
Manerville, "and do I not like you because I know your
superiority? . . ."

"You must have noticed, if you are in the least capable of observing
any moral fact, that women love fops," went on De Marsay, without