"Yes, of course; but you fancy, too, I am sure of it, that Bijou is thinking of someone else? Ah, you see! you don't answer now! Yes, you believe, as your husband does—he told me so two or three days ago—that she is madly in love with young Giraud!"
"Oh, grandmamma, what an unlikely supposition! In the first place, Bijou is not, and never will be, madly in love with anyone."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that when she marries, it will be in a reasonable, calm sort of way, just as she does everything else."
"But when will it be?"
"When will it be? Well, I do not know exactly—soon, I think."
"Then you are saying that just at random? You are speaking of the future in just a vague sort of way?"
"The future always is vague, grandmamma," answered Madame de Rueille, smiling.