Presently Bertrade opened a window, and called out:
"Don't wait for Paul. He is only just beginning to dress. He will catch you up."
"Would you like to start, Bijou?" proposed Jean.
"I feel almost inclined to let you start without me," she answered, in an undecided way. "Your three horses are jumping about like mad things; they will excite Patatras, who is quite peaceful now. Start on, at any rate—I will join you out there. Nothing annoys me more than to ride a horse that is pulling so that you can hardly hold him in, and that is what I should have to put up with, for certain, if I start with you."
"Then you are going to wait for Paul?" asked Henry, looking bad-tempered.
Bijou pointed to the carriages, which were just coming out of the stable-yard.
"No, I am going to escort grandmamma."
"Well, that is just what will rouse your horse up," said Jean de Blaye.
"Oh, no! Don't you think I know my horse? Anyhow, all I ask you is to start off, and not to trouble yourselves about me."
"You are charming, really," observed Pierrot, moving towards his pony, and then turning towards the others, he added majestically, although, in a vexed tone: "Let us leave her, then, as she does not want to go with us."