"At the Institute! Where did you take the cab?" she asked.

"In front of a bridge, I think," he replied.

"Was it still daylight?" she asked.

"Almost," he said.

"Then you did not go to Madame Vernet's!" exclaimed Madame Adolphe.

"Why did you not come to Madame Vernet's?" asked his wife.

Madame Marmus, having come to the door on the tips of her toes, had
heard Madame Adolphe's exclamation. She did not wish to see Madame
Adolphe's astonishment. Surely Madame Adolphe could not have forgotten
the assurance with which the professor's wife had placed him in
imagination at Madame Vernet's table.

"My dear child, I do not know," said the professor in a repentant
tone.

"Then you have not dined," said Madame Marmus, whose attitude remained
that of the purest innocence.

"With what could he have dined, Madame? He had two sous," said Madame
Adolphe, looking at Madame Marmus with an accusing air.

"Ah, I am truly to be pitied, my poor Madame Adolphe," said Madame
Marmus. "This sort of thing has been going on for twenty years, and I
am not yet accustomed to it. Six days after our wedding, we were going