"But of course," he observed, "you are always well provided for—in the event of Bianca marrying, I mean—or, as she must do before very long, taking over the estates into her own hands?"
"There is my jointure, certainly," said the princess, "but it is not large. I do not understand business matters very well, but naturally, so long as Bianca is a minor and unmarried, I must be better off than I shall be afterwards. A great deal will depend upon Bianca's husband. That is what Monsieur l'Abbé always says to me—that we must not be in a hurry to marry Bianca. She must not marry a man who simply wants her titles and money to use them for his own purposes."
"Monsieur l'Abbé is perfectly right," said Baron d'Antin, with a dry little laugh.
The princess glanced at him. "You do not like him," she said.
Monsieur d'Antin hesitated for a moment. Then he laughed again, easily.
"Not like him?" he repeated. "But, my dear Jeanne, I like him very much. I am not fond of priests as a rule. They are not—well, not what I am accustomed to, you know. But your tame abbé, I should say that he was a most estimable person, and, no doubt, to a woman in your position, a most useful adviser."
The princess sighed. "Oh, most useful!" she exclaimed. "He is a good man of business, too," she continued. "I feel that he acts as a kind of intermediary between me, as Bianca's representative, and the agents and people. After all, Philippe, I am a foreigner, you know—though I scarcely feel myself to be one—and Bianca is not. So I am doubly glad of Monsieur l'Abbé's advice sometimes."
"But he is as much a foreigner as you are, Jeanne," remarked Monsieur d'Antin.
"Oh, but then he is a priest!" exclaimed the princess. "That makes such a difference. You see, he was brought up in Rome, and went through his studies here."
"An admirable training," said Monsieur d'Antin, suavely.