She dazzled old Tabaret. He
began to understand.
"You wished, sir, to speak with me?" she inquired, bowing gracefully.
"Madame," replied M. Tabaret, "I am a friend of Noel Gerdy's, I may say
his best friend, and--"
"Pray sit down, sir," interrupted the young woman.
She placed herself on a sofa, just showing the tips of her little feet
encased in slippers matching her dressing-gown, while the old man sat
down in a chair.
"I come, madame," he resumed, "on very serious business. Your presence
at M. Gerdy's--"
"Ah," cried Juliette, "he already knows of my visit? Then he must employ
a detective."
"My dear child--" began Tabaret, paternally.
"Oh! I know, sir, what your errand is. Noel has sent you here to scold
me. He forbade my going to his house, but I couldn't help it. It's
annoying to have a puzzle for a lover, a man whom one knows nothing
whatever about, a riddle in a black coat and a white cravat, a sad and
mysterious being--"
"You have been imprudent."
"Why? Because he is going to get married? Why does he not admit it
then?"
"Suppose that it is not true."
"Oh, but it is! He told that old shark Clergeot so, who repeated it to
me.
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