at must she have thought of me?"

As he spoke thus, his face buried in his hands, he slightly moved apart
his fingers, and fixed upon the abbe two glittering eyes that, like
cats' eyes, were capable of seeing clearly in the dark.

"What she thinks of you!" echoed the abbe, taking a fresh pinch of
snuff. "Bah! my dear count, women never are angry when a man swoons
away because of their bright eyes, especially when this man is a noble
chevalier, a true knight of the Round Table. I have reason to believe
that Mlle. Moriaz did not take your accident unkindly. Shall I tell
you my whole thought? I should not be surprised if you had touched her
heart, and that, if you take the pains, you may flatter yourself with
the hope of one day being loved by her."

At this moment the voice of his worthy friend appeared to Samuel Brohl
the most harmonious of all music. He felt a delicious thrill quiver
through his frame. The abbe was telling him nothing he had not known
before; but there are things of which we are certain, things that we
have told ourselves a hundred times, and yet that seem new when told us
for the first time by another.

"You are not misleading me?" ejaculated Samuel Brohl, overwhelmed with
joy, transported beyond himself. "Can it really be true!--One day I may
flatter myself--one day she may judge me worthy--Ah! what a glorious
vision you cause to pass before my eyes! How good and cruel together you
are to me! What bitterness is intermingled with the ineffable sweetness
of your words! No, I never could have believed that there could be so
much joy in anguish, so much anguish in joy."

"What would you imply, my dear count?" interposed Abbe Miollens. "Have
you need of a negotiator? I can boast of having had some experience in
that line. I am wholly at your service."

These words calmed Samuel Brohl. Quickly recovering himself, he coldly
rejoined:

"A negotiator? What occasion would I have for a negotiator? Do not
delude me with a chimera, and above all do not tempt me to sacrifice
my honour to it. This height of felicity that you offer to me I must
renounce forever; I have told you why."

Abbe Miollens was at first inclined to be indignant; he even took the
liberty to rebuke, to expostulate with his noble friend. He endeavoured
to prove to him that his principles were too rigorous, that such a thing
is possible as exaggeration in virtue, too great refinement in delicacy
of conscience. He represented to him that