Be a sensible man.

Go back to Avranches, thence to Cherbourg, and thence to where you live--and leave me to settle my own affairs." "Before I accept that proposal," said I, "I must know what 'your own affairs' include." "You're making a fool of yourself--or being made a fool of--which you please," he assured me; and his face wore for the moment an almost friendly look.

I saw clearly that he believed he had won the day.

The old lady had managed to make him think that--by what artifice I knew not.

But what I did know was that I believed not a jot of the insinuation he was conveying to me, and had not a doubt of the truth, and sincerity of Marie Delhasse.
"The best of us do that sometimes," I answered.