Her special preoccupation was to keep vacant near her a seat which Desnoyers might occupy.

She considered him the most distinguished man on board because he was accustomed to taking champagne with all his meals.

He was of medium height, a decided brunette, with a small foot, which obliged her to tuck hers under her skirts, and a triangular face under two masses of hair, straight, black and glossy as lacquer, the very opposite of the type of men about her.

Besides, he was living in Paris, in the city which she had never seen after numerous trips in both hemispheres.
"Oh, Paris! Paris!" she sighed, opening her eyes and pursing her lips in order to express her admiration when she was speaking alone to the Argentinian.

"How I should love to go there!" And in order that he might feel free to tell her things about Paris, she permitted herself certain confidences about the pleasures of Berlin, but with a blushing modesty, admitting in advance that in the world there was more--much more--that she wished to become acquainted with.
While pacing around the Chapelle Expiatoire, Julio recalled with a certain remorse the wife of Counsellor Erckmann.