(M. de Sallus _and_ Mme. de Sallus.)

M. DE SALLUS [_sinks into an armchair_]

Was Randol here any length of time?

MME. DE SALLUS

No, possibly half an hour.

M. DE SALLUS [_meditatively_]

Half an hour plus a whole hour makes an hour and a half, does it not?
Time seems to fly when you are with him.

MME. DE SALLUS

What do you mean by an hour and a half?

M. DE SALLUS

Just what I say. When I saw the carriage waiting at the door, I asked
the footman, who was within. He told me that it was M. Jacques de
Randol. "Has he been here long?" I asked. "He has been here since ten,"
said the footman. Admitting that the man might have been mistaken, we
will say, in the matter of a quarter of an hour, that would make an hour
and a quarter, at the least.

MME. DE SALLUS