voice.

"Our friendship is well known. You are rich, and I have only my pay: the
antithesis is flagrant! The gossips comment upon it, and exploit the
fact against me."

"Against you!" cried Eugenie, indignantly.

"Against me--yes. I have proof of it. A man in private life would be
justified in ignoring such gossip, but for a man in my profession
ambiguity has no place, nor has compromise. Himself a severe judge of
the conduct of others, he must not afford them a single instance whereby
they can accuse him of not following his own precepts."

And, as his companion remained silent and startled before an explanation
so unexpected, he added:

"You say nothing, my love. You must divine the depth of my chagrin at
the prospect of a necessary separation, and you are sufficiently
charitable not to remind me that I ought to have made these tardy
reflections before I yielded to a fascination which made me close my eyes
to facts."

"I reproach you with nothing, Henri," said Eugenie in a trembling voice.
"I myself yielded to the same enchantment, and in abandoning myself to
it, I did not foresee that some day it might be prejudicial to your
honor. A singular moral law is that of the world!" she pursued, growing
more excited. "Let General de Prerolles be the lover of Madame de
Lisieux or of Madame de Nointel; let him sit every day at their tables--
if there be only a husband whose hand he may clasp in greeting, no one