of order it's the fault of that brute. For
thirty-five years he has been poisoning me with his abominable cooking."

Madame Maramballe suddenly turned about completely, in order to see the
old domestic. Their eyes met, and in this single glance they both said
"Thank you!" to each other.

THE LOG

The drawing-room was small, full of heavy draperies and discreetly
fragrant. A large fire burned in the grate and a solitary lamp at one
end of the mantelpiece threw a soft light on the two persons who were
talking.

She, the mistress of the house, was an old lady with white hair, but
one of those old ladies whose unwrinkled skin is as smooth as the finest
paper, and scented, impregnated with perfume, with the delicate essences
which she had used in her bath for so many years.

He was a very old friend, who had never married, a constant friend, a
companion in the journey of life, but nothing more.

They had not spoken for about a minute, and were both looking at the
fire, dreaming of no matter what, in one of those moments of friendly
silence between people who have no need to be constantly talking in
order to be happy together, when suddenly a large log, a stump covered
with burning roots, fell out. It fell over the firedogs into the
drawing-room and rolled on to the carpet, scattering great sparks around
it. The old lady, with a little scream, sprang to her feet to run away,
while he kicked the log back on to the hearth and stamped out all the
burning sparks with his boots.

When the disaster was remedied, there was a strong smell of burning,
and, sitting down opposite to his friend, the man looked at her with a
smile and said, as he pointed to the log:

"That is the reason why I never married."

She looked at him in astonishment, with the inquisitive gaze of women
who wish to know everything, that eye which women have who are no
longer very young,--in which a complex, and often roguish, curiosity is
reflected, and she asked:

"How so?"

"Oh, it is a long story," he replied; "a rather sad and unpleasant
story.

"My old friends were often surprised at the coldness which suddenly
sprang up between one of my best friends whose Christian name was
Julien, and myself. They could not understand how two such intimate
and inseparable friends, as we had been, could suddenly become almost
strangers to one another, and I will tell you the reason of it.

"He and I used to live together at one time. We were never ap