They went up the three front steps; and, while he was looking through
his bunch of keys for the key of the front door, she rested her head on
his shoulder.

* * * * *

Félicie, when unveiling her beauty, displayed a serene pride which made
her adorable. She revealed such a quiet satisfaction in her nudity that
her chemise, when it fell to her feet, made the onlooker think of a
white peacock.

And when Robert saw her in her nakedness, bright as the streams or
stars, he said:

"At least you don't make one badger you! Its curious: there are women,
who, even if you don't ask them for anything, surrender themselves
completely, go just as far as it's possible to go, yet all the time they
won't let you see so much as a finger-breadth of skin."

"Why?" asked Félicie, playing with the airy threads of her hair.

Robert de Ligny had experience of women. Yet he did not realize what an
insidious question this was. He had received some training in moral
science, and in replying he derived inspiration from the professors
whose classes he had attended.

"It is doubtless a matter of training, religious principles, and an
innate feeling which survives even when----"

This was not at all what he ought to have replied, for Félicie,