Did you know about that, my friend ?" "I knew nothing about it," replied Muffat.

"Ah, then, Steiner's bought a country place in the neighborhood!" Hearing his mother broach the subject, Georges looked into his coffee cup, but in his astonishment at the count's answer he glanced up at him and stared.

Why was he lying so glibly?
The count, on his side, noticed the young fellow's movement and gave him a suspicious glance.

Mme Hugon continued to go into details: the country place was called La Mignotte.
In order to get there one had to go up the bank of the Choue as far as Gumieres in order to cross the bridge; otherwise one got one's feet wet and ran the risk of a ducking.
"And what is the actress's name ?" asked the countess.
"Oh, I wasn't told," murmured the old lady.

"Georges, you were there the morning the gardener spoke to us about it." Georges appeared to rack his brains.