fearing to lose the great boon? Each evening I ask myself:
'Will she still love me to-morrow?' Perhaps my anxiety is blended with
secret remorse. My pride, ever on the alert to take umbrage, has often
been my torment; you can tell me it is only self-love: I will endeavour
to cure myself of it, but this cannot be done in a day. During these
long months of waiting there will come to me more than one suspicion,
more than one troubled thought. I promise you, however, that I shall
maintain a rigid silence concerning them, and, if possible, hide them.

"You condemn me, for my punishment, to love you to-day more than
yesterday; you know well this were impossible. No; I shall inflict upon
myself another chastisement. Mme. de Lorcy has invited me to dinner. I
suspect her of having a very mediocre feeling of good-will for me, and
I also accuse her of being cold and insensible; of understanding
nothing whatever of the heart's unreasonableness, which is true wisdom.
Nevertheless, I will refrain from declining her invitation. It is at
Maisons and not at Cormeilles that I shall this day pass my evening. Are
you content with me? Is not the penance severe enough?

"But to-morrow--oh! I shall arrive at your home to-morrow by two
o'clock, and I shall enter by the little green gate at the foot of the
orchard. Will you do me a favour? Promenade about two o'clock in the
gravel-walk that I adore. The wall being low at that place, I
shall perceive from afar, before entering, the white silk of your
sun-umbrella. I am counting, you see, upon sunshine. How very childish!
Yet, even this is not strange; I was born three months and a half ago;
I commenced to live July 5th of this year; at four o'clock in the
afternoon, in the cathedral at Chur. Forgive me all my errors, my
suspicions, my childish absurdities."

Mlle. Moriaz concluded that it would be well to shorten the term of
waiting, and that she would ask Count Larinski to fix the date of their
marriage himself. As to the contract, she had immediate occasion to
speak of it to her father, who announced to her that he had invited his
notary, Maitre Noirot, to dine with him the next day.

She was silent a few moments, and then said, "Can you explain to me the
use of notaries?"

He replied about as did _le Philosophe sans le savoir_: "We only see the
present; notaries foresee the future and possible contingencies."

She replied that she did not believe in contingencies, and that she
did not