"
The friends who waited below overheard the invitation.
"_Au revoir, General_," said they.
"_Au revoir, Messieurs,_" he answered, and followed the lady.
"General," said she, as if her heart were overflowing, "you have been
spoken against. Please sit down."
"Is that true, Madame?"
"Yes, General."
She sank into a luxurious chair.
"A lady said to-day--but you will be angry with me, General."
"With you, Madame? That is not possible."
"I do not love to make revelations, General; but when a noble friend is
evil spoken of"--she leaned her brow upon her thumb and forefinger, and
looked pensively at her slipper's toe peeping out at the edge of her
skirt on the rich carpet--"one's heart gets very big."
"Madame, you are an angel! But what said she, Madame?"
"Well, General, I have to tell you the whole truth, if you will not be
angry. We were all speaking at once of handsome men. She said to me:
'Well, Madame Delicieuse, you may say what you will of General
Villivicencio, and I suppose it is true; but everybody knows'--pardon
me, General, but just so she said--'all the world knows he treats his
son very badly.
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