sieur…pardon, j'ai oublié votre nom, M. Alexis?… N'est-ce pas?"
"But excuse me, mon cher marquis, what has it to do with you?"
"Mais le général…"
"But what about the General? He said something last night, that he had to be particularly careful…nd was so upset…but I did not understand it."
"There is, there certainly is a particular circumstance," De Grieux caught me up in an insistent voice, in which a note of vexation was more and more marked. "You know Mlle. de Cominges…?"
"That is, Mlle. Blanche?"
"Why, yes, Mlle. Blanche de Cominges…et madame sa mère. You see for yourself, the General…in short, the General is in love; in fact…in fact, the marriage may be celebrated here. And fancy, scandal, gossip…"
"I see no scandal or gossip connected with the marriage in this."
"But le baron est si irascible un caractère Prussien, vous savez, enfin il fera une querelle d'Allemand."
"With me, then, and not with you, for I no longer belong to the household…" (I tried to be as irrational as possible on purpose.) "But, excuse me, is it settled, then, that Mlle. Blanche is to marry the General? What are they waiting for? I mean, why conceal this from us, at any rate, from the members of the household?"
"I cannot…however, it is not quite…besides…you know, they are expecting news from Russia; the General has to make arrangements…"
"A! a! La baboulinka!"
De Grieux looked at me with hatred.
"In short," he interrupted, "I fully rely on your innate courtesy, on your intelligence, on your tact… You will certainly do this for the family in which you have been received like one of themselves, in which you have been liked and respected…"
"Excuse me, I've been dismissed! You maintain now that that is only in appearance; but you must admit, if you were told: 'I won't send you packing, but, for the look of the thing, kindly take yourself off.'… You see, it comes almost to the same thing."
"Well, if that's how it is, if no request will have any influence
