Muriel's cheeks warmed again, and she looked away.
"We have no children," she responded, shortly.
"No children?" The visitor plainly considered this unbelievable. "You have no little babies? Then, why to marry?"
"No."
"Not one?"
"We have none."
"But how unhappy, how unfortunate for monsieur! Perhaps soon——"
"We have been married only a short time."
"Ah!" The French girl seemed to rest upon that as the sole reasonable explanation. "Then," she said with a note of encouragement in her tone, "it is not without hope. After a while you will have the babies."
Muriel was angry. She looked to Jim for rescue; but Jim was still leaning over the rail, engrossed in the spectacle presented by the dancers.