The shadow of a smile on her lips, she seemed to be
following up a secret thought which had been suddenly awakened within
her. Estelle, on the other hand, sitting stiffly on her chair, had heard
all that had been said about Nana, but her white, virginal face had not
betrayed a trace of emotion.
"Dear me, dear me! I've got no right to grow angry," murmured Mme Hugon
after a pause, and with a return to her old good humor she added:
"Everybody's got a right to live. If we meet this said lady on the road
we shall not bow to her--that's all!"
And as they got up from table she once more gently upbraided the
Countess Sabine for having been so long in coming to her that year. But
the countess defended herself and threw the blame of the delays upon her
husband's shoulders. Twice on the eve of departure, when all the trunks
were locked, he counterordered their journey on the plea of urgent
business. Then he had suddenly decided to start just when the trip
seemed shelved. Thereupon the old lady told them how Georges in the same
way had twice announced his arrival without arriving and had finally
cropped up at Les Fondettes the day before yesterday, when she was no
longer expecting him. They had come down into the garden, and the two
men, walking beside the ladies, were listening to them in consequential
silence.
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