But I'm afraid that we
shan't have time to drink our coffee in peace."
The coffee was served in the little blue and silver sitting-room, where
bloomed some lovely yellow roses, testifying to the Baroness's keen
passion for flowers, which made the house an abode of perpetual spring.
Duvillard and Fonsegue, however, carrying their cups of steaming coffee
with them, at once went into the former's private room to smoke a cigar
there and chat in freedom. As the door remained wide open, one could
hear their gruff voices more or less distinctly. Meantime, General de
Bozonnet, delighted to find in Madame Fonsegue a serious, submissive
person, who listened without interrupting, began to tell her a very long
story of an officer's wife who had followed her husband through every
battle of the war of 1870. Then Hyacinthe, who took no coffee--
contemptuously declaring it to be a beverage only fit for door-keepers--
managed to rid himself of Rosemonde, who was sipping some kummel, in
order to come and whisper to his sister: "I say, it was very stupid of
you to taunt mamma in the way you did just now. I don't care a rap about
it myself. But it ends by being noticed, and, I warn you candidly, it
shows ill breeding."
Camille gazed at him fixedly with her black eyes. "Pray don't /you/
meddle with my affairs," said she.
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