"He is not much older!" she retorted.
"Oh—but yes. And it is well. It is so that it is most often arranged in France."
"No doubt—but our marriages are not 'arranged' for us in America. We choose for ourselves."
The visitor seemed surprised. She raised her long, high brows and looked from Stainton to Muriel.
"How then," she enquired, "you choose for yourself a man so much older?"
"I say he is not much older, not any older," said Muriel, despising herself for having fallen into such a discussion, yet unable, in an alien language, to disentangle herself.
"But madame is a mere girl," said the visitor, seeking only to be polite.
"And my husband is young also," declared Muriel.
Something in the tone of this repetition convinced the French girl that the subject was not further to be pursued. She essayed another tack.
"And the babies?" she asked. "Is it that you brought with you the babies?"