"Ah, if I could have foreseen! That hunting party--I cared little for
it, as you may think! But you--your letter, that of the twenty-seventh"
--he had a gift for dates--"has thrown me into a horrible anxiety.
Something has happened. Tell me everything."

"My friend, I believed you had ceased to love me."

"But now that you know the contrary?"

"Now--"

She paused, her arms fell before her and her hands were joined.

Then, with affected tranquillity, she continued:

"Well, my friend, we took each other without knowing. One never knows.
You are young; younger than I, since we are of the same age. You have,
doubtless, projects for the future."

He looked at her proudly. She continued:

"Your family, your mother, your aunts, your uncle the General, have
projects for you. That is natural. I might have become an obstacle.
It is better that I should disappear from your life. We shall keep a
fond remembrance of each other."

She extended her gloved hand. He folded his arms:

"Then, you do not want me? You have made me happy, as no other man ever