"Mine!" she continued, in a feebly loving voice; "tell me again that you
belong to me, to me alone, Octave!"

"You do not send me away any longer, then? you like me to be near you?"
he said, with a happy smile, as he kissed the young woman's brow.

"Oh! stay, I beg of you! stay with me forever!"

She folded her arms more tightly around him, as if she feared he might
leave her. Suddenly she sat up, opened her eyes, and gazed about her in
silent astonishment.

"What has happened?" said she, "and how is it that you are here? Ah!
this is dreadful indeed; you have cruelly punished me for my weakness."

This sudden severity after her delicious abandon, changed Octave's
pleasure into angry vexation.

"You are the one," he replied, "who are cruel! Why allow me so much
bliss, if you intended to take it away from me so soon? Since you love
me only in your dreams, I beg of you to go to sleep again and never
awaken. I will stay near you. Your words were so sweet, but a moment
ago, and now you deny them!"

"What did I say?" she asked, with hesitation, a deep blush suffusing.
her face and neck.

These symptoms, which he considered a bad augury, increased Octave's
irritation. He arose and said in a bitter tone: