"You will be marrying soon? You will be leaving us?"
Bijou laughed. "How you arrange things. There is no question, as far as I know, of my marriage."
"There is nothing definite—no; at least, I do not think so. But, practically, it is the one subject in question, and grandmamma thinks of nothing else."
"Oh, well, I am not like her then, for I scarcely ever give it a thought." And then she added, turning grave all at once: "Besides, my marriage is very problematical."
"Problematical?"
"Why, yes,—in the first place, I should want the man who marries me to love me."
"Oh, well, you can be easy on that score; you will have no difficulty about that."
Her fresh young voice took an almost solemn tone as she continued:
"And then I should want to love him, too."
"Oh, so you will. One always does love one's husband—to begin with," said Rueille carelessly; and then he stopped short, thinking that the words "to begin with" were unnecessary.