me wanted to see you. A
score of times I intended going after you into the country; but then,
you know, circumstances--'

Claude, feeling uncomfortable at these protestations, endeavoured to
meet them with a like cordiality. But Henriette, who was still serving,
saved the situation by growing impatient.

'Come, Fagerolles, just answer me. Do you wish two slices of toast?'

'Certainly, madame, two, if you please. I am very fond of
_bouillabaisse_. Besides, yours is delicious, a marvel!'

In fact, they all went into raptures over it, especially Jory and
Mahoudeau, who declared they had never tasted anything better at
Marseilles; so much so, that the young wife, delighted and still flushed
with the heat of the kitchen, her ladle in her hand, had all she could
do to refill the plates held out to her; and, indeed, she rose up and
ran in person to the kitchen to fetch the remains of the soup, for the
servant-girl was losing her wits.

'Come, eat something,' said Sandoz to her. 'We'll wait well enough till
you have done.'

But she was obstinate and remained standing.

'Never mind me. You had better pass the bread--yes, there, behind you on
the sideboard. Jory prefers crumb, which he can soak in the soup.'

Sandoz rose in his turn and assisted his wife, while the others chaffed
Jory on his love for sops. And Claude, moved by the pleasant cordiality
of his hosts, and awaking, as it were, from a long sleep, looked at them
all, asking himself whether he had only left them on the previous night,
or whether four years had really elapsed since he had dined with them
one Thursday. They were different, however; he felt them to be changed:
Mahoudeau soured by misery, Jory wrapt up in his own pleasures, Gagniere
more distant, with his thoughts elsewhere. And it especially seemed to
him that Fagerolles was chilly, in spite of his exaggerated cordiality
of manner. No doubt their features had aged somewhat amid the wear and
tear of life; but it was not only that which he noticed, it seemed to
him also as if there was a void between them; he beheld them isolated
and estranged from each other, although they were seated elbow to elbow
in close array round the table. Then the surroundings were different;
nowadays, a woman brought her charm to bear on them, and calmed them by
her presence. Then why did he, face to face with the irrevocable current
of things, which die and are renewed, experience that sensation of
beginning something ove