Muffat's unexpected presence annoyed him, for he feared an explanation and had been doing his best to avoid it these three months past.

With blinking eyes he stood first on one leg, then on the other, looking embarrassed the while and avoiding the count's gaze.

He was out of breath, and as became a man who had rushed across Paris with good news, only to find himself involved in unforeseen trouble, his face was flushed and distorted.
"Que veux-tu, toi ?" asked Nana roughly, using the second person singular in open mockery of the count.
"What--what do I--" he stammered.

"I've got it for you--you know what." "Eh ?" He hesitated.

The day before yesterday she had given him to understand that if he could not find her a thousand francs to pay a bill with she would not receive him any more.