--I ask for nothing better; I am quite at your service.

--And we will celebrate the good news.

--I will take my share in the celebration. Ah, Monsieur le Curé, you do not
know me yet; I hope that you will know me better, and you will see that I
am not an ill-natured girl. My heart is as young as another's, and when we
must laugh, provided that it is decent and without offence, I know how to
laugh, and do not give up my share.

--Good, said Marcel to himself, let me flatter this woman. That is the only
way of preventing any rumour. I must leave Althausen, I will pass her on to
my successor, but I do not want to have an enemy behind me. If you have my
secret, you old hypocrite, I will have yours, and I will know what there is
at the bottom of your bag of iniquity.





XLIX.


CONFIDENCES.

"To thee I wish to confide this secret,
Speak of it to no-one, we must be discreet
They love too much to laugh in this unbelieving age."

BABILLOT (_La Mascarade humaine_).