“Yes,” said Miss Anne, faintly.
“Saprelotte!” cried Aristide, with a fine flourish, “let them talk!”
“Against Jean and myself?”
The reproach brought him to his feet. “No,” said he. “No. Sooner than they should talk, I would go out and strangle every one of them. But it is infamous. What do they say?”
“How can I tell you? What would they say in your own country?”
“France is France and England is England.”
“And a little cackling village is the same all the world over. No, my dear friend—for you are my dear friend—you must go back to London, for the sake of my good name and Jean’s.”
“But let us leave the cackling village.”
“There are geese on every common,” said Anne.