"Why, of course," he exclaimed, with cutting irony, "they are the two finest ornaments of her salon! How will the others do without them? How will they manage to rattle out the regulation tomfoolery? Will they ever be able to reach the required level of absurdity, affectation, stupidity and narrowness? Heavens, if we were a shade less dull and less inane, what a catastrophe!"
"It's not right of you to talk like that, monsieur," said Gilberte.
"What!" he said, taken aback.
"No, you ought not to laugh at what is a great pleasure to your mother. If some of her friends are a little eccentric, it is not for you to remark upon it."
He rose, began to walk excitedly up and down the room and then, gradually mastering himself, came and sat opposite Gilberte again and said:
"You are right, madame. Besides, among all those people whom I cannot help criticizing, I have never heard you speak any but
