“She is a strong woman; but it is true, for all that.”
“Then what can he do? He is not the man to be chosen for any public appointment.”
“No. He is clever enough, but his education has taught him nothing beyond the classics, and he has no habits of industry.”
Mme. de la Ferraye shrugged her pretty shoulders.
“As I told his mother, he must marry—there is nothing else for it. Let us find him a wife, Gaspard, though, Heaven knows, I pity the poor girl who has that will of iron for a mother-in-law!”
“Or Léon de Beaudrillart for a husband.”
“No, no; now you are too hard, and you will never get me to agree with you. There is something so fascinating and charming about him, that I am convinced he would make his wife very happy.”
“If she were content to keep her eyes shut.”
“Well, she would be. Trust me, Gaspard, Léon’s wife, whoever she was, would believe nothing against him.”
“In that case—”