"That's impossible, for I caught her in the act with her hairdresser."

"Oh, that proves nothing! the poor young man does not look into things
very closely."

"But she is in love with him."

"I don't think so, though she has spent several hours in his company."

"And you say that she loves me!"

"Oh, that has nothing to do with it! It is only a whim of hers with the
hairdresser."

"Tell her that I am coming to pass the day beside her bed, and bring me
her reply."

"I will send the other girl if you like."

"No, she only speaks English."

She went away, and as she had not returned by three o'clock I decided on
calling to hear how she was. I knocked at the door, and one of the aunts
appeared and begged me not to enter as the two friends of the house were
there in a fury against me, and her niece lay in a delirium, crying out
"There's Seingalt, there's Seingalt! He's going to kill me. Help! help!"
"For God's sake, sir, go away!"

I went home desperate, without the slightest suspicion that it was all a
lie. I spent the whole day without eating anything; I could not swallow a