there are a few blossoms of hemlock left in your flower there,'
touching it with his finger; 'will you give them to me?'

Martha Twexby stared; surely this was the long-expected come at
last--she had secured a lover; and such a lover--handsome, young,
and gallant,--the very hero of her dreams. She almost fainted in
delighted surprise, and unfastening the flowers with trembling
fingers, gave them to Gaston. He placed them in a button-hole of his
flannel coat, then before she could scream, or even draw back in
time, this audacious young man put his arm round her and kissed her
virginal lips. Miss Twexby was so taken by surprise, that she could
offer no resistance, and by the time she had recovered herself,
Gaston had disappeared into Pierre's room and closed the door after
him.

'Well,' she said to herself, as she returned to the bar, 'if that
isn't a case of love at first sight, my name ain't Martha Twexby,'
and she sat down in the bar with her nerves all of a flutter, as she
afterwards told a female friend who dropped in sometimes for a
friendly cup of tea.

Gaston closed the door after him, and found himself in a moderately
large room, with one window looking on to the garden, and having a
dressing-table with a mirror in front of it. There were two beds,
one on each side, and on the farthest of these Pierre was sleeping
heavily, not even Gaston's entrance having roused him. Going over to
him, Vandeloup touched him slightly, and with a spring the dumb man
sat up in bed as if he expected to be arrested, and was all on the
alert to escape.