“But I’m fond of them.”
“Of Claire?”
“Yes.”
“People are.”
“You sound very dry.”
She gave a poke to her ugly old man’s protruding eye.
“Mon dieu, I’m not too fond of your family, as you well know. They bore me. I was brought up with Claire. We know each other.”
“You don’t like her.”
“She is uninteresting, no courage, no character.”
“She has put up with a great deal.”