Muffat used to grow angry then, but he only succeeded in astonishing her.

What was coming over the man?
She was doing it to please herself, not other people.
That particular evening she wanted to have a better view of herself, and she lit the six candles attached to the frame of the mirror.

But while letting her shift slip down she paused.

She had been preoccupied for some moments past, and a question was on her lips.
"You haven't read the Figaro article, have you?
The paper's on the table." Daguenet's laugh had recurred to her recollections, and she was harassed by a doubt.

If that Fauchery had slandered her she would be revenged.
"They say that it's about me," she continued, affecting indifference.
"What's your notion, eh, darling ?" And letting go her shift and waiting till Muffat should have done reading, she stood naked.