Was Rose going to waste time over such a folly as that? In
that sort of case, by Jove, he blocked the way. And diamond on finger
and with his fine hands in great evidence, he finished discussing a
fillet of venison.
Elsewhere the conversation about children continued. La Faloise,
rendered very restless by the immediate proximity of Gaga, asked news of
her daughter, whom he had had the pleasure of noticing in her company at
the Varietes. Lili was quite well, but she was still such a tomboy! He
was astonished to learn that Lili was entering on her nineteenth year.
Gaga became even more imposing in his eyes, and when he endeavored to
find out why she had not brought Lili with her:
"Oh no, no, never!" she said stiffly. "Not three months ago she
positively insisted on leaving her boarding school. I was thinking of
marrying her off at once, but she loves me so that I had to take her
home--oh, so much against my will!"
Her blue eyelids with their blackened lashes blinked and wavered while
she spoke of the business of settling her young lady. If at her time of
life she hadn't laid by a sou but was still always working to minister
to men's pleasures, especially those very young men, whose grandmother
she might well be, it was truly because she considered a good match of
far greater importance than mere savings.
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