d him at random on lips, eyes, nose or ear. Then if
she met with reproof she would return to the attack with the cleverest
maneuvers and with infinite submissiveness and the supple cunning of
a beaten cat would catch hold of his hand when no one was looking,
in order to kiss it again. It seemed she must be touching something
belonging to him. As to Fontan, he gave himself airs and let himself
be adored with the utmost condescension. His great nose sniffed with
entirely sensual content; his goat face, with its quaint, monstrous
ugliness, positively glowed in the sunlight of devoted adoration
lavished upon him by that superb woman who was so fair and so plump
of limb. Occasionally he gave a kiss in return, as became a man who is
having all the enjoyment and is yet willing to behave prettily.

"Well, you're growing maddening!" cried Prulliere. "Get away from her,
you fellow there!"

And he dismissed Fontan and changed covers, in order to take his place
at Nana's side. The company shouted and applauded at this and gave vent
to some stiffish epigrammatic witticisms. Fontan counterfeited
despair and assumed the quaint expression of Vulcan crying for Venus.
Straightway Prulliere became very gallant, but Nana, whose foot he was
groping for under the table, caught him a slap to make him keep quiet.
No, no, she was certainly not going to become his mistress. A month ago
she had begun to take a fancy to him because of his good looks, but now
she detested him. If he pinched her again under pretense of picking up
her napkin, she would throw her glass in his face!

Nevertheless, the evening passed off well. The company had naturally
begun talking about the Varietes. Wasn't that cad of a Bordenave going
to go off the hooks after all? His nasty diseases kept reappearing and
causing him such suffering that you couldn't come within six yards of
him nowadays. The day before during rehearsal he had been incessantly
yelling at Simonne. There was a fellow whom the theatrical people
wouldn't shed many tears over. Nana announced that if he were to ask her
to take another part she would jolly well send him to the rightabout.
Moreover, she began talking of leaving the stage; the theater was not
to compare with her home. Fontan, who was not in the present piece or
in that which was then being rehearsed, also talked big about the joy of
being entirely at liberty and of passing his evenings with his feet
on the fender in the society of his little