The Mysterious Disappearance of the Chevalier Valmont

and still familiarexistimaginationafterwardssubconscious◊subconsciousmindor whatever it isprobably experience

“Perhaps you’re right. You said you have spent many years away from home. How is that possible? I mean, you being so young?”

“I’m not as young as it may appear. I guess, it’s the sea. Its salty waters must have preserved me well.”

“Just don’t tell my friends about it, or they will all take to the sea, and I will have no one to gossip with.”

“I promise, I won’t tell anyone,” Valmont said with a smile.

“But you will share your secret with me, won’t you?”

“Certainly.”

preservetaketotheseagossipsharecertainly

“And what about me? May I join in on the secret?” asked the baron who happened to overhear his wife’s question.

(35)

“Which I was. But the wonderful smell coming from the kitchen woke me up.”

“I thought that the two of you might be hungry, so I asked the cook to serve dinner at five instead of seven.”

“Great!” said the baron, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. “I knew you wouldn’t let your husband starve to death, my dear.”