'Oh, yes, of course I've told mother, but she don't seem to think there is anything in it.'
'Then you may be sure there is nothing in it.' Mrs., or Madame, Paulo was the recognised sense-carrier of the household.
'Yes, I know. Nobody knows better than I what a woman your mother is.' He laid a kindly emphasis on the word 'your' as if to carry to the credit of Dolores some considerable part of the compliment that he was paying to her parent. 'But still, I thought I should like to talk to you, too, little girl. If two heads are better than one, three heads, I take it, are better than two.'
'All right, dear; go ahead.'
'Well, its about this Captain Sarrasin—in number forty-seven—you know.'
'Of course I know, dear; but what can puzzle you about him? He seems to me the most simple and charming old gentleman I have seen in this house for a long time.'
'Old gentleman,' Paulo said, with a smile. 'I fancy how much he would like to be described in that sort of way, and by a handsome girl, too! He don't think he is an old gentleman, you may be sure.'
'Why, father, he is almost as old as you; he must be fifty years old at least—more than that.'
'So you consider me quite an old party?' Paulo said, with a smile.
'I consider you an old darling,' his daughter answered, giving him a fervent embrace—they were alone in the corridor—and Paulo seemed quite contented.