Muffat was bothering her to death, but she was beside herself at the thought of being left like this.

She broke the silence which she usually maintained on such subjects in her husband's society and said bluntly: "You see what's going on?
My word, if she tries the Steiner trick on again I'll tear her eyes out!" Tranquilly and haughtily Mignon shrugged his shoulders, as became a man from whom nothing could be hidden.
"Do be quiet," he muttered.

"Do me the favor of being quiet, won't you ?" He knew what to rely on now.

He had drained his Muffat dry, and he knew that at a sign from Nana he was ready to lie down and be a carpet under her feet.

There is no fighting against passions such as that.
Accordingly, as he knew what men were, he thought of nothing but how to turn the situation to the best possible account.
It would be necessary to wait on the course of events.