ther that leads me."

"If I could but be sure that you will be happy! But no! This man, before
whom you immolate me, will never know the worth of a soul as delicate as
yours. He is a brute, a swash-buckler, a drunkard."

"I beseech you, Leon, remember that he has a right to my unreserved
respect!"

"Respect! For him! And why? I ask of you, in Heaven's name, what you
find respectable in the character of Mister Fougas? His age? He is
younger than I. His talents? He never shows them anywhere but at the
table. His education? It's lovely! His virtues? _I_ know what is to be
thought of his refinement and gratitude!"

"I have respected him, Leon, since I first saw him in his coffin. It is
a sentiment stronger than all else; I cannot explain it, I can but
submit to it."

"Very well! Respect him as much as you please! Yield to the superstition
that enchains you. See in him a miraculous being, consecrated, rescued
from the grip of Death to accomplish something great on earth! But this
itself, Oh my dear Clementine, is a barrier between you and him! If
Fougas is outside of the conditions of humanity, if he is a phenomenon,
a being apart, a hero, a demigod, a fetich, you cannot seriously think
of becoming his wife. As for me, I am but a man like others, born to
work, to suffer and to love. I love you! Love me!"

"Scoundrel!" cried Fougas, opening the door.

Clementine uttered a cry, Leon sprung up quickly, but the Colonel had
already seized him by the most practicable part of his nankeen suit,
before he had even time to think of a single word in reply. The engineer
was lifted up, balanced like an atom in one of the sunbeams, and flung
into the very midst of the heliotropes. Poor Leon! Poor heliotropes!

In less than a second, the young man was on his feet. He dusted the
earth from his knees and elbows, approached the window, and said in a
calm but resolute voice: "Mister Colonel, I sincerely regret having
brought you back to life, but possibly the folly of which I have been
guilty is not irreparable. I hope soon to have an opportunity to find
out if it be! As for you, Mademoiselle, I love you!"

The Colonel shrugged his shoulders and put himself at the young girl's
feet on the very cushion which still bore the impression left by Leon.
Mlle. Virginie Sambucco, attracted by the noise, came down stairs like
an avalanche and heard the following conversation.

"Idol of a great soul! Fougas returns to thee like the eagle to hi