"Oho! is it possible? Madame's husband is still alive?"
"Yes, and what is more, I know from someone who has met him lately that he is living in Paris at this moment."
"Well, that is news indeed; the Baron de Grangeville is alive!"
"Not the Baron de Grangeville, for that isn't his name; I did not choose to bear his name any longer."
"I understand; so madame is not really a baroness then?"
"I was a countess, Lizida, which is much better; for my husband is a count!"
"Oh! excuse me, madame, excuse me! madame la comtesse! Ah! 'madame la comtesse'! how lovely it is to say that! will you allow me to call you that, madame?"
"No, you would become accustomed to it; besides, I don't want that title any more, it would remind me of a time that I wish to forget."
"Oh! of course, since madame was so unhappy with her husband, that she was obliged to leave him--after many years, no doubt."
"Why, no; we had been married hardly three years when we separated."
"Only three years! That isn't very long! Was he very unkind from the beginning, that husband of yours?"
"Yes, he began to be very--very ridiculous at once!"
"That is very lucky, for sometimes there is a dispute as to who shall have the children, or who shall not have them; whereas, when there are none, it's: 'Adieu, bonsoir; we can't live together any longer, let us part!'--Isn't that the way it's done, madame?"
"Not quite so easy as that when you wish to separate according to law, and that is what we did, Monsieur de--my husband having his separate property and I mine, we both took our own."
"Ah! but if your husband should die, madame, would you inherit from him?"
"How unjust that is! Just think of that! A poor little woman gives herself to a man who makes her unhappy, and if he dies, she doesn't inherit! And monsieur le comte, your husband, has at least twenty thousand francs a year, you say?"
"Oh! in more than nineteen years that have passed, it seems that he has doubled his fortune at least, in undertakings, speculations."
"What! nineteen years madame has left her husband?"
Madame de Grangeville made a gesture of irritation, and the maid made haste to add:
"No, no, that is not possible; madame made a mistake; doubtless madame meant to say nine years."