“And how is your young lady?” asked Newman. “She made a great impression on me.”
“An impression? Monsieur is very good. Monsieur admires her appearance?”
“She is very pretty, certainly.”
“Alas, yes, she is very pretty!”
“And what is the harm in her being pretty?”
M. Nioche fixed his eyes upon a spot on the carpet and shook his head. Then looking up at Newman with a gaze that seemed to brighten and expand, “Monsieur knows what Paris is. She is dangerous to beauty, when beauty hasn’t the sou.”
“Ah, but that is not the case with your daughter. She is rich, now.”
“Very true; we are rich for six months. But if my daughter were a plain girl I should sleep better all the same.”
“You are afraid of the young men?”
“The young and the old!”