The Faubourg Saint-Germain hardly knows that we're engaged." "He doesn't go about advertising it," said Jeanne, smiling.
"You're joking, but all the same what you say is true," said Germaine.
"That's exactly what his cousin Madame de Relzieres said to me the other day at the At Home she gave in my honour--wasn't it, Sonia ?" And she walked to the window, and, turning her back on them, stared out of it.
"She HAS got her mouth full of that At Home," said Jeanne to Marie in a low voice.
There was an awkward silence.

Marie broke it: "Speaking of Madame de Relzieres, do you know that she is on pins and needles with anxiety?
Her son is fighting a duel to-day," she said.
"With whom ?" said Sonia.
"No one knows.

She got hold of a letter from the seconds," said Marie.
"My mind is quite at rest about Relzieres," said Germaine.

"He's a first-class swordsman.

No one could beat him." Sonia did not seem to share her freedom from anxiety.