Page:A Virgin Heart.pdf/95

Rh is it good that a young girl should learn the use that wives make of marriage? He said:

"M. Lanfranc, keep an eye on your language at table. Don't forget that we have a young girl with us."

"Yes," said M. Des Boys, "I sent her away from here, but that would hardly be possible during luncheon."

"Girls," said Lanfranc, "understand nothing."

"They guess," said M. Hervart.

M. Des Boys had no opinions on maiden perspicacity, but he desired to conform to custom and allow his daughter to listen only to the choicest conversation.

"Well, then," said Lanfranc, "let us proﬁtably employ these moments while we are alone." His lively blue eyes lit up his tanned face.

The conversation had deviated once more in the direction of Mme Des Boys' administrative merits.

"One meets so many different kinds of women," said M. Hervart. "The best of them is never equal to the dream one makes up about them."