And we were off. We’d had this argument many times before and Mélène, Jeanne and I had sworn we’d never bring it up again. It had been a mistake for me to mention Saint-Denis and suddenly I felt very weary. I really wasn’t up to an attack by Johanne and Marguerite after such a good dinner.

But Jeanne put an end to the evening as she’d put an end to the meal, with a ­single remark. Turning towards her guests she said with obvious bad faith:

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the bars where you two go every weekend are on Saint-Denis, no?”

Marguerite stiffened, Johanne gulped down the sentence she had ready. They rose in perfect unison and made a ­single rush for the door, like geese raised in the same barnyard. Before she left, Marguerite turned towards Jeanne who was seeing them out.

“You have to take the bars where you find them.”

“There’s other bars, and a lot more chic. Don’t try and ­justify yourselves. Do the Outremont ladies want to go slumming? Then let them accept the consequences!”

She almost slammed the door in their faces.

We didn’t laugh too loud because the living room ­windows were open and we were afraid they’d hear us on their way down the stairs. Mélène looked tired; between giggles she kept dabbing at her eyes with a Kleenex and struggling to get her breath back.

Jeanne poured her one last little glass of cognac.

“Here, drink this, it’s good for what ails you. But don’t gulp it when you’re so tired, it’ll knock you out . . .”

I took one too, which I sipped in silence. Jeanne had gone to load the dishwasher and Mélène, like me, was sprawled out in an over-sized armchair. She yawned once or twice. I didn’t take offense: it didn’t mean she wanted to go to bed but that she felt comfortable. She stretched like a cat who’s deciding whether to go eat between naps.

“Good thing they left when they did, I was ready to claw them! God, I wish they’d get fed up and sell us their third of the house!”

“What would we use for money? It’s hard enough to pay what we owe already . . . For me, anyway . . .”

“We could find somebody else . . .”

“We don’t know anybody who’s got the money . . . And as for getting involved with strangers, you see where that gets you . . .”