"I did not know that men liked, as we do, to be surrounded by flowers.
Won't you give me one?"

"All, if you like."

"Oh! one pink will be enough for me."

"Then take it," said Marien; her curiosity alarmed him, and he was
anxious to get her away.

"Would it not be nicer if you gave it me yourself?" she replied, with
reproach in her tones.

"Here is one, Mademoiselle. And now I must tell you that I want to
dress. I have to go out immediately."

She pinned the pink into her bodice so high that she could inhale its
perfume.

"I beg your pardon. Thank you, and good-by," she said, extending her
hand to him with a sigh.

"Au revoir."

"Yes--'au revoir' at home--but that will not be like here."

As she stood there before him there came into her eyes a strange
expression, to which, without exactly knowing why, he replied by pressing
his lips fervently on the little hand he was still holding in his own.