"This is my
wife!"
I bowed for the second time!--Oh, Coulon! Why wert thou not present to
applaud the only one of thy pupils who understood from that moment the
expression, "anacreontic," as applied to a bow?--The effect must have
been very overwhelming; for Madame the Professoress, as the Germans
say, rose hurriedly as if to go, making me a slight bow which seemed
to say: "Adorable!----" Her husband stopped her, saying:
"Don't go, my child, this is one of my pupils."
The young woman bent her head towards the scholar as a bird perched on
a bough stretches its neck to pick up a seed.
"It is not possible," said the husband, heaving a sigh, "and I am
going to prove it to you by A plus B."
"Let us drop that, sir, I beg you," she answered, pointing with a wink
to me.
If it had been a problem in algebra, my master would have understood
this look, but it was Chinese to him, and so he went on.
"Look here, child, I constitute you judge in the matter; our income is
ten thousand francs."
At these words I retired to the door, as if I were seized with a wild
desire to examine the framed drawings which had attracted my
attention. My discretion was rewarded by an eloquent glance. Alas! she
did not know that in Fortunio I could have played the part of
Sharp-Ears, who heard the truffles growing.
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