A mad thought possessed him and caused him to hasten toward the Rue Leopardi, to provoke his rival suddenly and before Madame Steno! Ah, what pleasure it would give him to see her tremble, for she surely would tremble when she saw him enter the studio! But he would be correct, as she had so insolently asked him to be.

He would go, so to speak, to see Alba's portrait.

He would dissemble, then he would be better able to find a pretext for an argument.

It is so easy to find one in the simplest conversation, and from an argument a quarrel is soon born.

He would speak in such a manner that Maitland would have to answer him.