“My dear love, that is for you to decide.”
“Very well! then we will receive very few people, for company would prevent us from being together, from going to walk and to drive alone; and I feel that that would annoy me terribly!”
“How sweet you are!”
“We will receive just a few friends; mamma’s, for example.”
“Exactly. In the morning we will walk in the garden—for we must have a garden, mustn’t we?”
“Oh! yes, my dear! A big garden, with lots of shade,—and thickets!”
“Ah! you are already thinking of the thickets!”
“Does that offend you, monsieur?”
Edouard’s only reply was to kiss his wife, press her to his heart, receive her soft caresses, and—the conversation was interrupted for several minutes.