Madame Guéret. A properly brought up young lady is never of age.
Féliat. Perfectly true.
Madame Guéret. And there must be a change in her way of dressing.
Guéret. There will. She'll have to dress simply, for she won't have a rap.
Madame Guéret. That has nothing to do with it. I shall make her understand that she will have to behave like the other girls in good society.
Féliat. Of course.
Madame Guéret. I shall also put a veto on certain books she reads. [To her brother] It's really dreadful, Etienne. You've no idea! One day I found a shocking book upon her table—a horror! What do you suppose she said when I remonstrated? That that disgraceful book was necessary in preparing for her examination. And the worst of it is, it was true. She showed me the syllabus.
Féliat. I'm afraid they're bringing up our girls in a way that'll make unhappy women of them.
Madame Guéret. Don't let's talk about it; you'll start on politics, and then you and Henri will begin to argue. All the same I mean to be very good to her. As soon as she knows what's happened her poor little pretensions will come tumbling about her ears. I won't leave her in uncertainty, and even before she asks I'll tell her she may stay with us; but I shall tell her, too, what I expect from her in return.
Guéret. Wouldn't it be better—