Then he hesitated in visible embarrassment, and presently said:

"I wished to tell you ... immediately ... that ... that business ... you
know what I mean ... must come to nothing."

Monsieur de Courville looked at him in stupefaction. "Must come to
nothing?... Why?"

"Oh! Do not ask me, please; it would be too painful for me to tell
you; but you may rest assured that I am acting like an honorable man.
I cannot ... I have no right ... no right, you understand, to marry this
lady, and I will wait until she has gone, to come here again; it would be
too painful for me to see her. Good-bye." And he absolutely ran away.

The whole family deliberated and discussed the matter, surmising a
thousand things. The conclusion they came to was, that the Baron's past
life concealed some great mystery, that, perhaps, he had natural
children, or some connection of long standing. At any rate, the matter
seemed serious, and so as to avoid any difficult complications, they
adroitly informed Madame Vilers of the state of affairs, who returned
home just as much of a widow as she had come.

Three months more passed, when one evening, when he had dined rather too
well, and was rather unsteady on his legs, Monsieur de Coutelier, while
he was smoking his pipe with Monsieur de Courville, said to him:

"You would really pity me, if you only knew how continually I am thinking
about your friend."