evenings resumed. He ardently desired them to be continued, aware that
he would have need of these gatherings to attain his end. Besides,
without asking himself the reason, he felt more at ease among these few
persons whom he knew, and it gave him courage to look Therese in the
face.

The young woman, attired in black, pale and meditative, seemed to him to
possess a beauty that he had hitherto ignored. He was happy to meet
her eyes, and to see them rest upon his own with courageous fixedness.
Therese still belonged to him, heart and soul.



CHAPTER XVI

A fortnight passed. The bitterness of the first hours was softening;
each day brought additional tranquillity and calm; life resumed its
course with weary languidness, and with the monotonous intellectual
insensibility which follows great shocks. At the commencement, Laurent
and Therese allowed themselves to drift into this new existence which
was transforming them; within their beings was proceeding a silent
labour which would require analysing with extreme delicacy if one
desired to mark all its phases.

It was not long before Laurent came every night to the shop as formerly.
But he no longer dined there, he no longer made the place a lounge
during the entire evening. He arrived at half-past nine, and remained
until he had put up the shutters. It seemed as if he was accomplishing a
duty in placing himself at the service of the two women. If he happened
occasionally to neglect the tiresome job, he apologised with the