"I love you, I adore you, and that is why I will see you no more!"

But he did not utter these words, he fled away and was soon lost in the
darkness.

Bettina remained there against the brilliant background made by the light
from the hall. Great drops of rain, driven by the wind, swept across her
bare shoulders and made her shiver; she took no notice, she distinctly
heard her heart beat.

"I knew very well that he loved me," she thought, "but now I am very
sure, that I, too--oh! yes! I, too!--"

All at once, in one of the great mirrors in the hall door, she saw the
reflection of the two footmen who stood there motionless, near the oak
table in the hall. Bettina heard bursts of laughter and the strains of
the waltz; she stopped. She wished to be alone, completely alone, and
addressing one of the servants, she said:

"Go and tell your mistress that I am very tired, and have gone to my own
room."

Annie, her maid, had fallen asleep, in an easy-chair. She sent her away.
She would undress herself. She let herself sink on a couch, she was
oppressed with delicious emotion.

The door of her room opened, it was Mrs. Scott.

"You are not well, Bettina?"