Gentlemen recognised her, and bowed to her. She returned their salutations while telling Frederick their names. They were all counts, viscounts, dukes, and marquises, and carried a high head, for in all eyes he could read a certain respect for his good fortune.
Cisy had a no less happy air in the midst of the circle of mature men that surrounded them. Their faces wore cynical smiles above their cravats, as if they were laughing at him. At length he gave a tap in the hand of the oldest of them, and made his way towards the Maréchale.
She was eating, with an affectation of gluttony, a slice of _pâté de foie gras_. Frederick, in order to make himself agreeable to her, followed her example, with a bottle of wine on his knees.
The four-wheeled cabriolet reappeared. It _was_ Madame Arnoux! Her face was startlingly pale.
"Give me some champagne," said Rosanette.
And, lifting up her glass, full to the brim as high as possible, she exclaimed:
"Look over there! Look at my protector's wife, one of the virtuous women!"
There was a great burst of laughter all round her; and the cabriolet disappeared from view. Frederick tugged impatiently at her dress, and was on the point of flying into a passion. But Cisy was there, in the same attitude as before, and, with increased assurance, he invited Rosanette to dine with him that very evening.
"Impossible!" she replied; "we're going together to the Café Anglais."
Frederick, as if he had heard nothing, remained silent; and Cisy quitted the Maréchale with a look of disappointment on his face.
While he had been talking to her at the right-hand door of the carriage, Hussonnet presented himself at the opposite side, and, catching the words "Café Anglais":
"It's a nice establishment; suppose we had a pick there, eh?"
"Just as you like," said Frederick, who, sunk down in the corner of the berlin, was gazing at the horizon as the four-wheeled cabriolet vanished from his sight, feeling that an irreparable thing had happened, and that there was an end of his great love. And the other woman was there beside him, the gay and easy love! But, worn out, full of conflicting desires, and no longer even knowing what he wanted, he was possessed by a feeling of infinite sadness, a longing to die.