'Let us be friends,' and the day will come when we shall both be
happy."

"Good heavens! why did I ever come here? Why did I ever take your
arm?" cried Flavie.

"Because it is in your destiny," he replied. "Ah! my dear, beloved
Flavie," he added, again pressing her arm upon his heart, "did you
expect to hear the vulgarities of love from me? We are brother and
sister; that is all."

And he led her towards the passage to return to the rue d'Enfer.

Flavie felt a sort of terror in the depths of the contentment which
all women find in violent emotions; and she took that terror for the
sort of fear which a new passion always excites; but for all that, she
felt she was fascinated, and she walked along in absolute silence.

"What are you thinking of?" asked Theodose, when they reached the
middle of the passage.

"Of what you have just said to me," she answered.

"At our age," he said, "it is best to suppress preliminaries; we are
not children; we both belong to a sphere in which we should understand
each other. Remember this," he added, as they reached the rue d'Enfer.
--"I am wholly yours."

So saying, he bowed low to her.