Monday?"

And Saniel, who, in spite of all, had kept a sober face, now laughed
loudly.

"Charming!" she cried, clapping her hands. "No more preoccupation; no
more cares. Look into my eyes, dear Victor, and think only of the
present hour, of the joy of being together, of our love."

She reached her hand over the table, and he pressed it in his.

"Very well." The dinner continued gayly, Saniel replying to Phillis's
smiles, who would not permit the conversation to languish. She helped
him to each dish, poured out his wine, leaving her chair occasionally to
put a piece of wood on the fire, and such shoutings and laughter had
never been heard before in that office.

However, she noticed that, little by little, Saniel's face, that relaxed
one moment, was the next clouded by the preoccupation and bitterness that
she had tried hard to chase away. She would make a new effort.

"Does not this charming little dinner give you the wish to repeat it?"

"How? Where?"

"As I am able to come this evening without making mamma uneasy, I shall
find some excuse to come again next week."

He shook his head.