“Oh! oh!”

“You will see.  Besides, you have seen for eight days.”

“The first eight days don’t count.”

“I will continue, rest assured.  I love you, besides.  I love you, and do you know why?  It is because you are not a man of the past; you are distinctly modern, very modern.  Look at him, Aunt Louise.  Isn’t he very nice, very well turned out, very modern, in fact—­I repeat it—­in his little pearl-gray suit.  He is devoted to his clothes.  He consults for hours and hours with his tailor, which delights me, for I intend to consult for hours and hours with my dress-maker.  And he will pay the bills without a tremor, for he will be charmed to see me very stylish and very much admired.  Ah, we shall make the most brilliant and most giddy little couple!  He is modern, I shall be modern, we shall be modern!  After three, four, or five weeks (we do not know exactly) dedicated to pure love, we shall take flight towards the country, where one has a good time; and then we shall be talked about, Aunt Louise, we shall be talked about.  And now, where was I in my story?  I am sure I do not know at all.”

“Nor I.”

“Nor I.”

“Ah, I know.  Mme. de Courtalin had come to ask my hand for her honorable son, and when mamma had spoken to me of that I had exclaimed, ’Sooner the convent!’ I do not know exactly what mamma said to Mme. de Courtalin—­at any rate, I was left alone for the time being.  There was a rush to the Grand Prix, and then a general breaking-up.  We went to spend a month at Aix-les-Bains for papa’s complaint, and then a fortnight here, Aunt Louise; and then, do you remember, you received the confessions of my poor torn heart.  Ah!  I must say you are the only young member of the family—­you were the only one who did not make a long face when I spoke of my love for that rogue.  Mamma, however, had preached to you, and you vaunted the advantages of an alliance with Courtalin, but without conviction.  I felt that you were at bottom on my side against mamma, and it was so easily explained—­mamma could not understand me, whereas you!  They think we little girls know nothing, and we know everything.  I knew that mamma had made a worldly marriage, which had, however, turned out very well; and you, Aunt Louise, had married for love.  You must have battled to get the husband you wished, and you had him, and you resolutely conquered your happiness.  Yes, I knew all that; I dared even to allude to those things of the past, and those memories brought a smile to your lips and tears to your eyes.  And to-day again, Aunt Louise, there it is, the smile, and there are the tears.”

Marceline interrupted her talk, affectionately threw herself on her Aunt Louise’s neck, and kissed her with all her heart.  She wiped away the tears with kisses, and only the smile remained.  Yes, Aunt Louise remembered that she had had hard work to get as husband a certain handsome officer of the Royal Guard, who was there present at the scene, in an old decorated frame, standing up with his helmet on his head in a martial attitude, leaning on the hilt of his cavalry sabre.