Frédérique, vol. 2

_As she spoke, Georgette found a way to let the skirt fall at her feet. She jumped over it, ran to where her shawl and bonnet were hanging, and left the room before Dupont, who...

Poor Dumouton! I was sorry that I had been the means of showing him up; but how could I suspect that he had sold me Rouffignard's umbrella? It was very wrong; but, perhaps, he n...

"You told me, monsieur, that it would take me till two o'clock at least. But I hurried and got back earlier. Monsieur tells me sometimes that I am slow, and I wanted to prove th...

I hired a cab by the hour, and went first to Faubourg Saint-Denis, corner of Rue Chabrol; that was where Rosette had her legal domicile. I knew the house, having taken her there...

"Come, let's not say any more about that. We're not cross any more, are we? and you'll take me out to dinner, and we'll have a nice little feed--what do you say? Yes, you will,...

"By the way, you haven't told me yet where you were perching yesterday, when I had the kindness--I might well say, the folly--to look for you at all your aunts' lodgings."

Mignonne gave me a small iron spoon, and a cup containing the sedative draught ordered by the doctor. I filled the spoon and offered it to the child, who refused to take it; but...

Mignonne speedily fulfilled her promise; she appeared one morning, alone; she desired to show me that she no longer had any suspicion of me. I talked a few minutes with her. We...

"Now, all that you have to do is to try to please Mignonne; but even in that you must act with great circumspection, and, above all, with patience! That young woman, engrossed a...

"That is all right, so far as most people are concerned; but I want Ballangier to be excepted from that prohibition. I take a very deep interest in that young man. He used to ha...

One morning, after passing an hour with us, Armantine remembered that she had something to do at home, and left us. I rejoiced to be left alone with Frédérique, which had come t...

"The least that I can do is to reveal all my secrets to you now; there must be no more secrets between us. I felt drawn toward you the first moment that I knew you. There are, I...

"It was I," he said, "who attended the unhappy Annette, the woman you murdered! She is dead; but I received her full confidence, and we are familiar with your crime to its small...

As for Dupont himself, he was neither handsome nor ugly, neither short nor tall, neither clever nor stupid; he was one of those men of whom nothing is said. He had rather a good...

"I am an--an American; I was in business, but I have retired; I have money enough to be happy; I am a widower, without children, and therefore at liberty to do exactly as I plea...

Dupont was on the rack; if he had dared, he would have struck his friend Jolibois, to make him relax his hold, at the risk of knocking him downstairs. He tried to release his ar...

"But," some of his friends would reply, "have you never felt the pleasure of giving? Are you insensible to the delight one feels in gratifying a woman's desires, in humoring her...

Lastly, the old bachelor himself had purchased a box of candied fruit, without his maid-servant's knowledge. But he took care not to intrust his gift to the concierge, for if he...

"Faith! mademoiselle, I don't send bouquets myself; I consider it so commonplace, so vulgar, that I am not tempted to imitate these gentry. I speak out, I say frankly what I fee...

"A little pallor makes one more interesting; women like a melancholy air. That cruel girl will be touched by my evident suffering. Decidedly, it is much better for me to be pale...

"And so should I, my friend; but I did what I thought it best to do, for I don't want to break with my neighbor yet, and that is what would have happened if I hadn't invited him...

Monsieur de Mardeille went to the window and raised the curtain. Georgette was in her usual place, and seemed to him even more seductive than ever. He feared that she might be o...

"What did I do with her? Faith, nothing! What do you expect a man to do with a girl of that sort, when she has once been his mistress, and he has had enough of her? I don't see...

"Come, messieurs, let's do the square thing; we'll give him a week; and if, within a week, he doesn't invite us to dinner with his new conquest, why, we will assign him a place...

Before long there was a smart shower. Instantly all the promenaders and monkey fanciers disappeared, except the three gentlemen with the petticoats. They continued to walk to an...