“But, mesdemoiselles, you will be still beautiful!”
“That’s no news! Yes, we shall always be beautiful, because nature has made us passable; but we shall be ridiculous, because the fashion will have forgotten us. Alas! ridiculous! I shall be thought ridiculous — I!”
“And by whom?” said Louise, innocently.
“By whom? You are a strange girl, my dear. Is that a question to put to me? I mean everybody; I mean the courtiers, the nobles; I mean the king.”
“Pardon me, my good friend; but as here every one is accustomed to see us as we are — ”
“Granted; but that is about to change, and we shall be ridiculous,