"What! Do you bother yourself with such things at your age?"
"If my age seems to you a sufficient guaranty, that is different.
I accept your invitation."
"To the Hotel de Montgeron," said Zibeline to her footman.
"I never shall forget your sister's kindness to me," she continued, as the carriage rolled away. "She fulfils my idea of the great lady better than any other woman I have seen."
"You may be proud of her friendship," said Henri. "When once she likes a person, it is forever. I am like her in that respect. Only I am rather slow in forming friendships."
"And so am I."
"That is obvious, else you would have been married ere this."
"No doubt—to some one like young Desvanneaux, perhaps. You are very flattering! If you think that I would sacrifice my independence for a man like that—"
"But surely you do not intend to remain unmarried."
"Perhaps I shall—if I do not meet my ideal."