"Well, then?"
"I wish you'd tell me something."
"What, then?" she asked warily.
"I get a bit afraid sometimes that Carette is not intended for a plain common Sercqman. Has M. Le Marchant views—"
"Shouldn't be a bit surprised, mon gars. I know I would have if she were mine. But, all the same, it is Carette herself will have the final say in the matter, and meanwhile—well, the more she learns the better. Isn't it so?"
"Surely. The more one learns the better, unless—"
"Yes, then?"
"Well, unless it makes one look down on one's friends."
"Do you look down on your mother? And do you look down on me? Yet I'll be bound you think you know a sight more than both of us put together."
"No, I don't. But—"