“But where are they going to sleep? Not in the fields, I suppose?”
“Exactly-in the fields,” Mme. Riçois said, looking in turn at grand’mère, Mme. de Grojean, and Yvonne, to enjoy their astonishment.
“You mean a house in the country?” grand’mère said. “What house?”
“No house,” Mme. Riçois answered.
“Not in the open air, I suppose?”
“Exactly; in the open air!”
The effect which Mme. Riçois had missed with “the fields” was produced by her “open air.”
“Is it possible!” grand’mère said, as she let her knitting fall. “People as rich as that sleep out of doors?”
“Rich!” observed Mme. Riçois. “They could buy the town and turn it into wheat-fields!”
“Then they must be crazy!”