“But do you?” she insisted.
“I believe,” said he, with a little inclination of his head, “all that Lady Louisa has been telling me.”
The talk ran for awhile in lighter channels. Lady Louisa and Huckaby who had been discussing cookery—he had held her in watery-mouthed attention while he gave her from memory Izaac Walton’s recipe for roasting a jack—joined in the conversation.
“You two have been having a very deep argument,” said Lady Louisa.
“I have been trying to convert him to optimism,” laughed Mrs. Fontaine. “It seems to be difficult. But I’ll do so in time. I’m a determined woman. I’ve a good mind to forbid you to leave Paris before your conversion.”
“The process would be pleasant, though the result would be problematical.”
“I’m not going to argue with you. I just want to make you see things for yourself.”
“I will submit gladly to your guidance,” said Quixtus.
She looked at the little watch on her bracelet, and her rising brought the little party to their feet.
“Shall we begin now? I’m going to walk up the Rue de la Paix and see the shops.”