"Is Madame Froment in
good health? Are the children flourishing as usual?"
Seguin was examining her dress, a gown of white silk trimmed with
unbleached lace, and he suddenly gave way to one of those horribly rude
fits which burst forth at times amid all his great affectation of
politeness. "What! have you kept us waiting all this time to put that rag
on? Well, you never looked a greater fright in your life!"
And she had entered the room convinced that she looked charming! She made
an effort to control herself, but her girlish face darkened and assumed
an expression of haughty, vindictive revolt. Then she slowly turned her
eyes towards the friend who was present, and who was gazing at her with
ecstasy, striving to accentuate the slavish submissiveness of his
attitude.
"You look delicious!" he murmured; "that gown is a marvel."
Seguin laughed and twitted Santerre on his obsequiousness towards women.
Valentine, mollified by the compliment, soon recovered her birdlike
gayety, and such free and easy conversation ensued between the trio that
Mathieu felt both stupefied and embarrassed. In fact, he would have gone
off at once had it not been for his desire to obtain from his landlord a
promise to repair the pavilion properly.
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