"But she died." The tiny high voice had the thrust of an insect's stinger.
"If she were alive, madame, I could not now have the honor of asking for Mademoiselle Angélique's hand."
The dimpling grooves in his cheeks did not escape tante-gra'mère's black eyes.
"I do not like widowers," she mused.
"Nor do I," responded the colonel.
"Poor Thérèse might have been alive to-day, if she had not married you."
"Possibly, madame."
"And you have seven children?"
"Four, madame."
"On the whole, I like young men."