y, but
only heard a few confused words, to which the baron replied: "Very well.
That's sufficient. I will see him in a moment."

Pascal breathed freely once more. "They have just given him my card," he
thought. "I can remain now; he will come here in a moment."

The baron must really have started to leave the room, for his wife
exclaimed: "One word more: have you quite decided?"

"Oh, fully!"

"You are resolved to leave me exposed to the persecutions of my
dressmaker?"

"Van Klopen is too charming and polite to cause you the least worry."

"You will brave the disgrace of a law-suit?"

"Nonsense! You know very well that he won't bring any action against
me--unfortunately. And, besides, pray tell me where the disgrace
would be? I have a foolish wife--is that my fault? I oppose her absurd
extravagance--haven't I a right to do so? If all husbands were as
courageous, we should soon close the establishments of these artful men,
who minister to your vanity, and use you ladies as puppets, or living
advertisements, to display the absurd fashions which enrich them."

The baron took two or three more steps forward, as if about to leave the
room, but his wife interposed: "The Baroness Trigault, whose husband
has an income of seven or eight hundred thousand francs a year, can't go
about clad like a simple woman of the middle classes."

"I should see nothing so very improper in that."

"Oh, I know. Only your ideas don't coincide with mine. I shall never
consent to make myself ridiculous among the ladies of my set--among my
friends."

"It would indeed be a pity to arouse the disapproval of your friends."

This sneering remark certainly irritated the baroness, for it was with
the greatest vehemence that she replied: "All my friends are ladies of
the highest rank in society--noble ladies!"

The baron no doubt shrugged his shoulders, for in a tone of crushing
irony and scorn, he exclaimed: "Noble ladies! whom do you call
noble ladies, pray? The brainless fools who only think of displaying
themselves and making themselves notorious?--the senseless idiots who
pique themselves on surpassing lewd women in audacity, extravagance, and
effrontery, who fleece their husbands as cleverly as courtesans fleece
their lovers? Noble ladies! who drink, and smoke, and carouse, who
attend masked balls, and talk slang! Noble ladies! the idiots who long
for the applause of the crowd, and consider notoriety to be desirable
and flattering. A w