M. de Champignelles had no mind to cut a ridiculous figure.  He said, with the air of a man who can keep another’s counsel, that the Vicomtesse must know the purpose of this visit perfectly well; while the Vicomtesse, in all sincerity, had no notion what it could be.  Mme. de Beauseant, in perplexity, connected Gaston with people whom he had never met, went astray after various wild conjectures, and asked herself if she had seen this M. de Nueil before.  In truth, no love-letter, however sincere or skilfully indited, could have produced so much effect as this riddle.  Again and again Mme. de Beauseant puzzled over it.

When Gaston heard that he might call upon the Vicomtesse, his rapture at so soon obtaining the ardently longed-for good fortune was mingled with singular embarrassment.  How was he to contrive a suitable sequel to this stratagem?

“Bah!  I shall see her,” he said over and over again to himself as he dressed.  “See her, and that is everything!”

He fell to hoping that once across the threshold of Courcelles he should find an expedient for unfastening this Gordian knot of his own tying.  There are believers in the omnipotence of necessity who never turn back; the close presence of danger is an inspiration that calls out all their powers for victory.  Gaston de Nueil was one of these.

He took particular pains with his dress, imagining, as youth is apt to imagine, that success or failure hangs on the position of a curl, and ignorant of the fact that anything is charming in youth.  And, in any case, such women as Mme. de Beauseant are only attracted by the charms of wit or character of an unusual order.  Greatness of character flatters their vanity, promises a great passion, seems to imply a comprehension of the requirements of their hearts.  Wit amuses them, responds to the subtlety of their natures, and they think that they are understood.  And what do all women wish but to be amused, understood, or adored?  It is only after much reflection on the things of life that we understand the consummate coquetry of neglect of dress and reserve at a first interview; and by the time we have gained sufficient astuteness for successful strategy, we are too old to profit by our experience.

While Gaston’s lack of confidence in his mental equipment drove him to borrow charms from his clothes, Madame de Beauseant herself was instinctively giving more attention to her toilette.

“I would rather not frighten people, at all events,” she said to herself as she arranged her hair.

In M. de Nueil’s character, person, and manner there was that touch of unconscious originality which gives a kind of flavor to things that any one might say or do, and absolves everything that they may choose to do or say.  He was highly cultivated, he had a keen brain, and a face, mobile as his own nature, which won the goodwill of others.  The promise of passion and tenderness in the bright eyes was fulfilled by an essentially kindly heart.  The resolution which he made as he entered the house at Courcelles was in keeping with his frank nature and ardent imagination.  But, bold has he was with love, his heart beat violently when he had crossed the great court, laid out like an English garden, and the man-servant, who had taken his name to the Vicomtesse, returned to say that she would receive him.