"My dear boy, you don't think you're going to keep them long, do you? It's a marvel to me that Caroline hasn't married already. She's been one of the prettiest of all the girls, and B is even prettier, if that's possible. You'll lose 'em both pretty soon, if I'm not very much mistaken."
He turned to her in some alarm. "What do you mean?" he asked. "There's nothing going on, is there?"
She laughed. "How blind men are," she said. "M. de Lassigny is head over ears in love with B."
"Oh, my dear Mary, what nonsense! Excuse my saying so, but it's such a short time since you were in the cradle."
"Very well, George. You may call it nonsense if you like. But you'll see."
"He's been a friend of Caroline's for the last two years. It was she who asked him down here. It would be her if it were anybody, but I know it isn't."
"You may know it isn't Caroline. I know it too. They're just friends. You can't know it isn't B, because it is."
"What makes you say so? He's been just like all the rest of them here. He's been with Caroline just as much as with B. Barbara too, I should say, and the other girls as well."
"That's his artfulness, George. You can't hide these things from a woman—at any rate if she has eyes in her head and knows how to use them. I'm interested in your girls, not having any of my own, so I do use my eyes. He may not be ready to declare himself yet, but he will, sooner or later."
"I should hate that, you know. I don't believe B would take it on for a moment either. Do you?"