atter to me whether you believe me or
not. I thought you adorable, and the remembrance of you took such a hold
on me that I longed to see you again, and so I made use of that fool
Morin as a pretext, and here I am. Circumstances have made me exceed the
due limits of respect, and I can only beg you to pardon me."

She read the truth in my looks, and was ready to smile again; then she
murmured; "You humbug!" But I raised my hand, and said in a sincere
voice, (and I really believe that I was sincere): "I swear to you that
I am speaking the truth," and she replied quite simply: "Really?"

We were alone, quite alone, as Rivet and her uncle had disappeared in a
sidewalk, and I made her a real declaration of love, while I squeezed
and kissed her hands, and she listened to it as something new and
agreeable, without exactly knowing how much of it she was to believe,
while in the end I felt agitated, and at last really myself believed
what I said: I was pale, anxious and trembling, and I gently put my arms
round her waist, and spoke to her softly, whispering into the little
curls over her ears. She seemed dead, so absorbed in thought was she.

Then her hand touched mine, and she pressed it, and I gently squeezed
her waist with a trembling, and gradually firmer, grasp. She did not
move now, and I touched her cheeks with my lips, and suddenly without
seeking them, mine met hers. It was a long, long kiss, and it would have
lasted longer still, if I had not heard a _hum! hum!_ just behind me, at
which she made her escape through the bushes, and turning round I saw
Rivet coming towards me, and standing in the middle of the path, he said
without even smiling: "So, that is the way in which you settle the
affair of _that pig Morin_." And I replied, conceitedly: "One does what
one can, my dear fellow. But what about the uncle? How have you got on
with him? I will answer for the niece." "I have not been so fortunate
with him," he replied.

Whereupon I took his arm, and we went indoors.

III

Dinner made me lose my head altogether. I sat beside her, and my hand
continually met hers under the table cloth, my foot touched hers, and
our looks encountered each other.

After dinner we took a walk by moonlight, and I whispered all the tender
things I could think of, to her. I held her close to me, kissed her
every moment, moistening my lips against hers, while her uncle and Rivet
were disputing as they walked in front of us. They went in