“Yes, yes, of course. But shall we go very far?”
“To Algiers.”
“Oh, that is so far away. My mother will never give her consent.”
Her beautiful eyes were troubled. She already saw her happiness taking flight.
“Perhaps he would give up Algiers for the time being to please you. But don’t spoil his career, Alice. I think it is always dangerous to do that, and Marcel’s is so promising.”
“Oh, you know, Paule dear, I am not a heroine. I shall never be a Guibert. But he has been brave enough, has he not?”
Paule could hardly keep from laughing.
“You can never be too brave,” she said. “We who have no outside life, Alice, who have to stay at home, can at least help our brothers, our husbands, our sons, by our strong and understanding love. We must show our preference for those men who are brave and of some use in the world.”
“I have never thought about these things,” said Alice.
“And yet you love Marcel?”