was madly
anxious to discuss his position with him.

"Good heavens! I'm talking of things that don't concern me. I've said
what I have because everybody ought to be happy. We're having a chat,
eh? Well then, you're to answer me as straight as you can."

But she stopped to change her position, for she was burning herself.
"It's jolly hot, eh? My back's roasted. Wait a second. I'll cook my
tummy a bit. That's what's good for the aches!"

And when she had turned round with her breast to the fire and her feet
tucked under her:

"Let me see," she said; "you don't sleep with your wife any longer?"

"No, I swear to you I don't," said Muffat, dreading a scene.

"And you believe she's really a stick?"

He bowed his head in the affirmative.

"And that's why you love me? Answer me! I shan't be angry."

He repeated the same movement.

"Very well then," she concluded. "I suspected as much! Oh, the poor pet.
Do you know my aunt Lerat? When she comes get her to tell you the story
about the fruiterer who lives opposite her. Just fancy that man--Damn
it, how hot this fire is! I must turn round. I'm going to roast my
left side now." And as she presented her side to the blaze a droll idea
struck her, and like a good-tempered thing, she made fun of herself for
she was delighted to see that she was looking so plump and pink in the
light of the coal fire.

"I look like a goose, eh? Yes, that's it! I'm a goose on the spit, and
I'm turning, turning and cooking in my own juice, eh?"

And she was once more indulging in a merry fit of laughter when a sound
of voices and slamming doors became audible. Muffat was surprised,
and he questioned her with a look. She grew serious, and an anxious
expression came over her face. It must be Zoe's cat, a cursed beast
that broke everything. It was half-past twelve o'clock. How long was she
going to bother herself in her cuckold's behalf? Now that the other man
had come she ought to get him out of the way, and that quickly.

"What were you saying?" asked the count complaisantly, for he was
charmed to see her so kind to him.

But in her desire to be rid of him she suddenly changed her mood, became
brutal and did not take care what she was saying.

"Oh yes! The fruiterer and his wife. Well, my dear fellow, they never
once touched one another! Not the least bit! She was very keen on it,
you understand, but he, the ninny, didn't know it. He was so green
that he thought her a stick, and so he wen