"That's refreshing, at all events."
He saw several pairs of eyes fixed upon him, and with a muttered exclamation clasped Barbara round the waist and swept her into the waltz. His left hand gripped her right one; his arm was hard about her, holding her too close for decorum. "Je't'aime; entends tu, je't'aime!"
"You are out of time," she replied.
"Ah, qu'importe?" he exclaimed. He moderated his steps, however, and said in a quieter tone: "You knew I loved you! This Colonel, what can he be to you?"
"Why, don't you know? A husband!"
"And it is I who love you - yes, en desespere!"
"But I do not remember that you ever offered for this hand of mine, Etienne." She tilted her head back to look at him under the sweep of her lashes. "That gives you to think, eh, my friend? Terrible, that word marriage!"
"Effroyant! Yet I offer it!"
"Too late!"
"I do not believe! What has he, this colonel, that I have not? It is not money! A great position?"