Yet the conversations that went on simply crackled with allusions and suggestions whose licentiousness shocked me. Madeleine told us that on our outings and at parties ‘all kinds of things’ went on in motor-cars and behind bushes. The young ladies were careful to remain young ladies. But Yvonne neglected to take this elementary precaution, and Robert’s friends, who one after the other had done what they liked with her, were obliging enough to warn my cousin, and the marriage did not take place.
