De Faugenac clasped his hands to his breast.
‘She is ravished! She is envious! She pines!’
‘Dear me!’
‘She gives me no peace!’
‘They never do.’
‘Aha! No, never, never! But you do not take my meaning, m’sieur, you do not take my meaning!’
‘But then, that is hardly my fault,’ said Avon wearily. ‘We have arrived at the point at which your wife gives you no peace.’
‘That is the matter in a nutshell! She eats out her heart for your so lovely, your so enchanting, your so elegant –’
Avon held up his hand.
‘M’sieur, my policy has ever been to eschew married women.’
De Faugenac stared.
‘But – but – what do you mean, m’sieur? Is it another pleasantry? My wife pines for your page.’
‘How very disappointing!’
‘Your page, your so elegant page! She plagues me day and night to come to you. And I am here! Behold me!’
‘I have beheld you for the past twenty minutes, m’sieur,’ said Avon rather tartly.
‘She begs me to come to you, to ask you if you would part with your page! She cannot rest until she has him to hold her train for her, to carry her gloves and fan. She cannot sleep at night until she knows that he is hers!’
‘It seems that madame is destined to spend many sleepless nights,’ sai
d Avon.
‘Ah no, m’sieur! Consider! It is said that you bought your page. Now, is it not truly said that what may be bought may be sold?’
‘Possibly.’
‘Yes, yes! Possibly! M’sieur, I am as a slave to my wife.’ He kissed the tips of his fingers. ‘I am as the dirt beneath her feet.’ He clasped his hands. ‘I must bestow on her all that she desires, or die!’
‘Pray make use of my sword,’ invited his Grace. ‘It is in the corner behind you.’
‘Ah no! M’sieur cannot mean that he refuses! It is impossible! M’sieur, you may name your own price and I will give it!’
Avon stood up. He picked up a silver hand-bell, and rang it.
‘M’sieur,’ he said silkily, ‘you may bear my compliments to the Comte de Saint-Vire, and tell him that Léon, my page, is not for sale. Jules, the door.’
De Faugenac rose, very crestfallen.
‘M’sieur?’
Avon bowed.
‘M’sieur. You mistake! You do not understand!’
‘Believe me, I understand perfectly.’