"Of course ...," continued Hertha, mouthing her words, ... "of course ... with all my money I am not likely to be an old maid."
Grandmamma caught hold of her hands. "Child, whom have you got in your mind?" she cried, beginning to perspire with anxiety.
Hertha blushed to the roots of her hair. "I? ... nobody," she stuttered, struggling to maintain a nonchalant tone.
"You are talking indefinitely?"
"Yes ... of course ... indefinitely."
Grandmamma ventured to breathe more freely again, and determined forthwith that she would talk seriously to Leo that very day, and warn him that the "gold fish" might be snapped up, by some one else under his very eyes, if he did not look out.
"And ... now let me hear what you want to know."
"I want to know ... about love ... after marriage."
Grandmamma, who was used to these sort of questions, though lately they had been less frequent than of old, replied lightly, "It's the same after as before."
"Yes ... I know. But if there's another ... to whom one is not married ..."