They recognized one another, and, whilst dancing exchanged a few words.
Unintentionally, perhaps, whilst informing the young man of her present condition in life, she may have dropped a word of regret as to her past one.

At any rate, at the end of the quadrille Musette made a mistake, and instead of giving her hand to Marcel, who was her partner, give it to her _vis-a-vis_, who led her off, and disappeared with her in the crowd.
Marcel looked for her, feeling somewhat uneasy.

In an hour's time he found her on the young man's arm; she was coming out of the Cafe de l'Opera, humming a tune.

On catching sight of Marcel, who had stationed himself in a corner with folded arms, she made him a sign of farewell, saying--"I shall be back." "That is to say, 'Do not expect me,'" translated Marcel.
He was jealous but logical, and knew Musette, hence he did not wait for her, but went home with a full heart and an empty stomach.

He looked into the cupboard to see whether there were not a few scraps to eat, and perceived a bit of stale bread as hard as granite and a skeleton-like red herring.
"I cannot fight against truffles," he thought.