“Oh, how proper you are!” she said, smiling and giving me her hand. “It is not for myself, but for you.”
Marguerite made a gesture as if to say, “Oh, it is long since that I have done with propriety!” At that moment Nanine appeared.
“Is supper ready?” asked Marguerite. “Yes, madame, in one moment.”
“Apropos,” said Prudence to me, “you have not looked round; come, and I will show you.” As you know, the drawing-room was a marvel.
Marguerite went with us for a moment; then she called Gaston and went into the dining-room with him to see if supper was ready.
“Ah,” said Prudence, catching sight of a little Saxe figure on a side-table, “I never knew you had this little gentleman.”
“Which?”
“A little shepherd holding a bird-cage.”
“Take it, if you like it.”
“I won’t deprive you of it.”