"Why, no; Monsieur Edmond Didier."
Madame Dalmont's expression was almost stern as she said:
"My dear girl, don't you propose to think of anything but Monsieur Edmond?"
"I! Why do you ask me that?"
"Because ever since we came back from the notary's, I suppose you are not conscious of it, but you have talked of nothing but him; you are thinking of him all the time."
Agathe blushed to the whites of her eyes and stammered:
"Mon Dieu! if I have talked about that young man, it is only because he was so obliging to—you, that it seemed to me quite natural to be grateful to him. But if it displeases you, that is enough; I won't mention him again."
"Let us not exaggerate things, my dear love; the thing that might displease me would be to see you thinking too much of a person whom we hardly know; who showed himself most willing to be of service to us, it is true; but who is none the less a stranger to us."
"A stranger! why he told us all about his family and his means, and what he did."
"Yes, that is true; and I noticed that the first use he made of the sixty thousand francs left him by an uncle, was to leave his place."