"I don't see how I should have got out of it if he had delayed much longer." "You do not know to what lengths my devotion can go," said des Lupeaulx, rising.

"You shall be invited to the first select party given by his Excellency's wife." "Ah, you are an angel!" she cried.

"And I see now how much you love me; you love me intelligently." "To-night, dear child," he said, "I shall find out at the Opera what journalists are conspiring for Baudoyer, and we will measure swords together." "Yes, but you must dine with us, will you not?
I have taken pains to get the things you like best--" "All that is so like love," said des Lupeaulx to himself as he went downstairs, "that I am willing to be deceived in that way for a long time.

Well, if she IS tricking me I shall know it.

I'll set the cleverest of all traps before the appointment is fairly signed, and I'll read her heart.