a bright fire to enliven us and to keep our dinner warm. What have you
ordered?"

"I do not know; two dinners."

"So much the better! We will have surprises. We will leave the dishes
covered before the fire, and we will take them anyhow. Perhaps we shall
eat the roast before the entree, but that will be all the more funny."

Light, quick, busy, graceful, and charming, she came and went around the
table.

When the dinner came, the table was ready, and they sat down opposite to
each other.

"What happiness to be alone!" she said. "To be able to talk and to look
at each other freely!"

He looked at her with a tenderness in his eyes that she had never before
seen, with a depth of serious contemplation that overwhelmed her. From
time to time little cries of happiness escaped her.

"Oh! Dearest, dearest!" she murmured.

Yet she knew him too well not to see that a cloud of sadness often veiled
these eyes full of love, and that also they were often without any
expression, as if they looked within. Suddenly she became quiet; but she
could not long remain silent when she was uneasy. Why this melancholy at
such a moment?