But the other, who had been rather vexed at the Baron's behavior in the
circumstances, told him exactly what he thought of him:

"By Jove, my good friend, when a man has any secrets in his existence,
like you have, he does not make advances to a woman, immediately, as you
did, for you must surely have foreseen the reason why you had to draw
back."

The Baron left off smoking in some confusion.

"Yes, and no; at any rate, I could not have believed what actually
happened."

Whereupon, Monsieur de Courville lost his patience, and replied:

"One ought to foresee everything."

But Monsieur de Coutelier replied in a low voice, in case anybody should
be listening: "I see that I have hurt your feelings, and will tell you
everything, so that you may forgive me. You know that for twenty years
I have lived only for sport; I care for nothing else, and think about
nothing else. Consequently, when I was on the point of undertaking
certain obligations with regard to this lady, I felt some scruples of
conscience. Since I have given up the habit of ... of love, there! I
have not known whether I was still capable of ... you know what I
mean ... Just think! It is exactly sixteen years since ... I for the last
time ... you understand what I mean. In this neighborhood, it is not easy
to ... you know. And then, I had other things to do. I prefer to use my
gun, and so before entering into an engagement before the Mayor[3] and
the Priest to ... well, I was frightened. I said to myself: 'Confound it;