"I do not know. It seems strange to me. I want to kiss you, and I feel
astonished at having the right to do so."
She calmly held out her cheek to him, which he kissed as he would have
kissed that of a sister.
He continued: "The first time I saw you--you remember the dinner
Forestier invited me to--I thought, 'Hang it all, if I could only find a
wife like that.' Well, it's done. I have one."
She said, in a low tone: "That is very nice," and looked him straight in
the face, shrewdly, and with smiling eyes.
He reflected, "I am too cold. I am stupid. I ought to get along quicker
than this," and asked: "How did you make Forestier's acquaintance?"
She replied, with provoking archness: "Are we going to Rouen to talk
about him?"