t the least freshness. Did you
notice her to-night? She was as yellow as a quince."

"Perhaps you made the cousin notice it?"

"I did not take the trouble--"

"Place yourself always beside Eugenie, madame, and you need never take
the trouble to say anything to the young man against his cousin; he will
make his own comparisons, which--"

"Well, he has promised to dine with me the day after to-morrow."

"Ah! if you only _would_, madame--" said the abbe.

"What is it that you wish me to do, monsieur l'abbe? Do you mean to
offer me bad advice? I have not reached the age of thirty-nine, without
a stain upon my reputation, thank God! to compromise myself now, even
for the empire of the Great Mogul. You and I are of an age when we both
know the meaning of words. For an ecclesiastic, you certainly have ideas
that are very incongruous. Fie! it is worthy of Faublas!"

"You have read Faublas?"

"No, monsieur l'abbe; I meant to say the _Liaisons dangereuses_."

"Ah! that book is infinitely more moral," said the abbe, laughing. "But
you make me out as wicked as a young man of the present day; I only
meant--"

"Do you dare to tell me you were not thinking of putting wicked things
into my head? Isn't it perfectly clear? If this young man--who I admit
is very good-looking--were to make love to me, he would not think of his
cousin. In Paris, I know, good mothers do devote themselves in this
way to the happiness and welfare of their children; but we live in the
provinces, monsieur l'abbe."

"Yes, madame."

"And," she continued, "I do not want, and Adolphe himself would not
want, a hundred millions brought at such a price."

"Madame, I said nothing about a hundred millions; that temptation might
be too great for either of us to withstand. Only, I do think that an
honest woman may permit herself, in all honor, certain harmless little
coquetries, which are, in fact, part of her social duty and which--"

"Do you think so?"

"Are we not bound, madame, to make ourselves agreeable to each
other?--Permit me to blow my nose.--I assure you, madame," he resumed,
"that the young gentleman ogled you through his glass in a more
flattering manner than he put on when he looked at me; but I forgive him
for doing homage to beauty in preference to old age--"

"It is quite apparent," said the president in his loud voice, "that
Monsieur Grandet of Paris has sent his son to Saumur with extremely
matrimonial intentions."

"But in that cas