"Are you sure of that?"
"Perfectly sure."
"That which is to be, will be, my dear."
"But—"
"Nonsense!" exclaimed her phlegmatic companion, interrupting her with the most positive air imaginable. "You are dying to marry me, and you will marry me, so it is not worth while to say any more about it."
"You are right," exclaimed the woman, exasperated by her interlocutor's overweening conceit. "I think, with you, that we had better drop the subject. Monsieur's costume is finished. Take it up to his room, for he will return from court very soon, I am sure."
"From court," sighed Segoffin, shaking his head sadly.
A sigh was such a rare thing for this impassive individual to indulge in, that Dame Roberta's anxiety was aroused, and she asked, quickly:
"Why are you sighing like a furnace, you who display no emotion at all, ordinarily?"
"I expected it," remarked Segoffin, shaking his head dubiously.