Part 10 (2/2)

Du Bruel. ”So it is! Goodness! I'm off to the secretary; he wants to read the obituary.”

Poiret. ”What was I saying?”

Thuillier. ”Dominoes,--perhaps the devil plays dominoes.” [Sebastien enters to gather up the different papers and circulars for signature.]

Vimeux. ”Ah! there you are, my fine young man. Your days of hards.h.i.+p are nearly over; you'll get a post. Monsieur Rabourdin will be appointed.

Weren't you at Madame Rabourdin's last night? Lucky fellow! they say that really superb women go there.”

Sebastien. ”Do they? I didn't know.”

Fleury. ”Are you blind?”

Sebastien. ”I don't like to look at what I ought not to see.”

Ph.e.l.lion [delighted]. ”Well said, young man!”

Vimeux. ”The devil! well, you looked at Madame Rabourdin enough, any how; a charming woman.”

Fleury. ”Pooh! thin as a rail. I saw her in the Tuileries, and I much prefer Percilliee, the ballet-mistress, Castaing's victim.”

Ph.e.l.lion. ”What has an actress to do with the wife of a government official?”

Dutocq. ”They both play comedy.”

Fleury [looking askance at Dutocq]. ”The physical has nothing to do with the moral, and if you mean--”

Dutocq. ”I mean nothing.”

Fleury. ”Do you all want to know which of us will really be made head of this bureau?”

All. ”Yes, tell us.”

Fleury. ”Colleville.”

Thuillier. ”Why?”

Fleury. ”Because Madame Colleville has taken the shortest way to it--through the sacristy.”

Thuillier. ”I am too much Colleville's friend not to beg you, Monsieur Fleury, to speak respectfully of his wife.”

Ph.e.l.lion. ”A defenceless woman should never be made the subject of conversation here--”

Vimeux. ”All the more because the charming Madame Colleville won't invite Fleury to her house. He backbites her in revenge.”

Fleury. ”She may not receive me on the same footing that she does Thuillier, but I go there--”

Thuillier. ”When? how?--under her windows?”

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