"The other was in Paris! Well, for six weeks it was very pleasant, and
wre returned here on the best of terms. Do you know how to break with a
woman, when that woman has not wronged you in any way?"

"Yes, perfectly well."

"How do you manage it?"

"I give her up."

"How do you do it?"

"I do not see her any longer."

"But supposing she comes to you?"

"I am ... not at home."

"And if she comes again?"

"I say I am not well."

"If she looks after you?"

"I play her some dirty trick."

"And if she puts up with it?"

"I write to her husband anonymous letters, so that he may look after her
on the days that I expect her."

"That is serious! I cannot resist, and do not know how to bring about a
rupture, and so I have a collection of mistresses. There are some whom I
do not see more than once a year, others every ten months, others on
those days when they want to dine at a restaurant, those whom I have put
at regular intervals do not worry me, but I often have great difficulty
with the fresh ones, so as to keep them at proper intervals."

"And then...."

"And then ... Then, this little woman was all fire and flame, without
any fault of mine, as I told you! As her husband spends all the whole
day at his office, she began to come to me unexpectedly, and twice she
nearly met my regular one on, the stairs."

"The devil!"

"Yes; so I gave each of them her days, regular days, to avoid confusion;
Saturday and Monday for the old one, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday for the
new one."

"Why did you show her the preference?"

"Ah! My dear friend, she is younger."

"The devil!"

"Yes; so I gave each of them her days, regular days, to avoid confusion;
Saturday and Monday for the old one, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday for the
new one."

"Why did you show her the preference?"

"Ah! My dear friend, she is younger."

"So that only gave you two days to yourself in a week."

"That is enough for one."

"Allow me to compliment you on that."

"Well, just fancy that the most ridiculous and most annoying thing in
the world happened to me. For four months everything had been going on
perfectly; I felt perfectly safe, and I was really very happy, when
suddenly, last Monday, the crash came.

"I was expecting my regular one at the usual time, a quarter past one,
and was smoking a good cigar, and dreaming, very well satisfied with
myself, when I suddenly saw that it was past the time, at which I was
much surprised, fo