“Hush, hush!  Profit by the opportunity, Madame; slip through and take the vacant place. (Whispering.) Do not forget the big one last night, and the two little ones of this morning.”

CHAPTER V

MADAME AND HER FRIEND CHAT BY THE FIRESIDE

Madam—­(moving her slender fingers)—­It is ruched, ruched, ruched, loves of ruches, edged all around with blond.

Her Friend—­That is good style, dear.

Madame—­Yes, I think it will be the style, and over this snowlike foam fall the skirts of blue silk like the bodice; but a lovely blue, something like—­a little less pronounced than skyblue, you know, like—­my husband calls it a subdued blue.

Her Friend—­Splendid.  He is very happy in his choice of terms.

Madame—­Is he not?  One understands at once—­a subdued blue.  It describes it exactly.

Her Friend—­But apropos of this, you know that Ernestine has not forgiven him his pleasantry of the other evening.

Madame—­How, of my husband?  What pleasantry?  The other evening when the Abbe Gelon and the Abbe Brice were there?

Her Friend—­And his son, who was there also.

Madame—­What! the Abbe’s son? (Both break into laughter.)

Her Friend—­But—­ha! ha! ha!—­what are you saying, ha! ha! you little goose?

Madame—­I said the Abbe Gelon and the Abbe Brice, and you add, ’And his son.’  It is your fault, dear.  He must be a choir-boy, that cherub. (More laughter.)

Her Friend—­(placing her hand over hey mouth)—­Be quiet, be quiet; it is too bad; and in Lent, too!

Madame—­Well, but of whose son are you speaking?

Her Friend—­Of Ernestine’s son, don’t you know, Albert, a picture of innocence.  He heard your husband’s pleasantry, and his mother was vexed.

Madame—­My dear, I really don’t know to what you refer.  Please tell me all about it.

Hey Friend—­Well, on entering the drawing-room, and perceiving the candelabra lit up, and the two Abbe’s standing at that moment in the middle of the room, your husband appeared as if looking for something, and when Ernestine asked him what it was, he said aloud:  “I am looking for the holy-water; please, dear neighbor, excuse me for coming in the middle of the service.”

Madame—­Is it possible? (Laughing.) The fact is, he can not get out of it; he has met the two Abbes, twice running, at Ernestine’s.  Her drawing-room is a perfect sacristy.

Hey Friend (dryly)—­A sacristy!  How regardless you are getting in your language since your marriage, dear.

Madame—­Not more than before.  I never cared to meet priests elsewhere than at church.

Her Friend—­Come, you are frivolous, and if I did not know you better—­but do you not like to meet the Abbe Gelon?

Madame—­Ah! the Abbe Gelon, that is quite different.  He is charming.

Her Friend—­(briskly)—­His manners are so distingue.