Meanwhile Lili told Madame Verstraeten that she would take a walk round with de Woude, and the old lady asked Otto to sit down for a moment until they returned.
“How pretty Eline is, is she not, de Woude?” asked Lili. Since she had been skating with him she allowed him to call her by her name, and she called him simply de Woude. “I can’t help remarking it whenever I see her.”
“Yes; she looks very nice,” answered Georges indifferently.
“No; I think she is downright pretty,” persisted Lili. “How is it possible that you don’t think her pretty? What a curious taste you have, to be sure!”
He laughed gaily, in the enjoyment of a secret thought.
“I can’t help it—can I?—if she leaves me entirely indifferent; I have another ideal of beauty. But if you absolutely want me to think her pretty, why then I’ll take another look.”
“Oh no, no; I don’t care a bit,” she answered, also laughing; “only all the gentlemen think her pretty, that’s why I can’t understand that you don’t. And I can’t make out either why Frédérique does not like her. If I were a man, I should fall madly in love with her.”
“And fight a duel with Erlevoort, I suppose.”
The first part of the programme was at an end, and the throng of promenaders grew denser. Georges and Lili found themselves hemmed in on all sides, and they could proceed no farther.
“’Tis awful,” said Lili. “I don’t see any pleasure in it when there are so many.”