"Nearly all of them wore pink," put in Denyse, "I noticed that." "Oh! that is through you," said M. de Rueille. "The Pont-sur-Loire ladies see you always arrayed in pink, and as you are considered by them to be _tip-top_, they have taken to pink, too." And seeing that Bijou looked surprised, he asked: "Well, isn't that quite clear enough?" "It is quite clear," she answered, laughing, "but a trifle imaginary. No one pays any attention to me, my dear Paul." And then, as Madame de Rueille turned towards her, Bijou appealed to her: "What do you think about the matter, Bertrade?" "I think that you are too modest." "Oh, yes," said Giraud, who was gazing at the young girl with admiring eyes, "Mademoiselle Denyse is too modest. Yesterday evening everyone in the house was looking at her, and even the actress herself--" "It's your imagination, Monsieur Giraud!" exclaimed Bijou, interrupting him hastily. "I never noticed that anyone was interested in our box; but even if they were, it does not follow necessarily that it was at me that--" "Evidently not," remarked Henry de Bracieux, in a chaffing tone. "It was grandmamma in whom the natives were so deeply interested." "No! but it might have been Jeanne Dubuisson." "Yes, that's true! She is not known at all in Pont-sur-Loire, therefore the sight of her would naturally make a sensation." Bijou shrugged her shoulders. "You know that I have a horror of people making a fuss about me, and you say things like this all the time to tease me." "If you have a horror of making a sensation," exclaimed Pierrot, "that great Gisele de la Balue is not like you, I can tell you. She's one who would change places with you. Yesterday, at the paper-chase feed, she was bothering round everyone like a great meat-fly; even Bernes sent her about her business." "I think young Bernes is very nice," said the marchioness. "I was noticing him all the evening yesterday, and I like him very much. He is very natural, has good manners, and is not by any means stupid." Jean de Blaye noticed that Bijou was screwing up her lips into a little pout of indifference. "You don't appear to be of the same opinion as grandmamma?" he said. "Oh, dear me! Yes, I am." "Well, you are not enthusiastic; you may as well own it." "Why, yes, I own it." The marchioness turned to her grand-daughter: "Ah! and what have you against him?" "Why, nothing, grandmamma, nothing at all! I think he is just like everyone else, and so when I see him I can't go into ecstasies over him--that's all." "I fancy," remarked M. de Rueille, "that the man isn't born yet about whom you would go into ecstasies. You are very good-hearted, very indulgent. You look upon everyone as all very well in a negative sort of way, but, practically, it is quite another matter." "Oh, you exaggerate!" "I exaggerate? Well, then, just mention one man, one only, who is according to your fancy." "Why, M. de Clagny, for instance!"