ermain and she had seen a
frightened deer clear an alley at a bound. As she gazed out of the open
window, Duroy bending over her, pressed a kiss upon her neck. For
several moments she remained motionless, then raising her head, she
said: "You tickle me, stop!"

But he did not obey her.

She repeated: "Stop, I say!"

He seized her head with his right hand, turned it toward him and
pressed his lips to hers. She struggled, pushed him away and repeated:
"Stop!"

He did not heed her. With an effort, she freed herself and rising,
said: "Georges, have done. We are not children, we shall soon reach
Rouen."

"Very well," said he, gaily, "I will wait."

Reseating herself near him she talked of what they would do on their
return; they would keep the apartments in which she had lived with her
first husband, and Duroy would receive Forestier's position on "La Vie
Francaise." In the meantime, forgetting her injunctions and his
promise, he slipped his arm around her waist, pressed her to him and
murmured: "I love you dearly, my little Made."

The gentleness of his tone moved the young woman, and leaning toward
him she offered him her lips; as she did so, a whistle announced the
proximity of the station. Pushing back some stray locks upon her
temples, she exclaimed:

"We are foolish."

He kissed her hands feverishly and replied:

"I adore you, my little Made."

On reaching Rouen they repaired to a hotel where they spent the night.
The following morning, when they had drunk the tea placed upon the
table in their room, Duroy clasped his wife in his arms and said: "My
little Made, I feel that I love you very, very much."

She smiled trustfully and murmured as she returned his kisses: "I love
you too--a little."

The visit to his parents worried Georges, although he had prepared his
wife. He began again: "You know they are peasants, real, not sham,
comic-opera peasants."

She smiled. "I know it, you have told me often enough."

"We shall be very uncomfortable. There is only a straw bed in my room;
they do not know what hair mattresses are at Canteleu."

She seemed delighted. "So much the better. It would be charming to
sleep badly--when--near you--and to be awakened by the crowing of the
cocks."

He walked toward the window and lighted a cigarette. The sight of the
harbor, of the river filled with ships moved him and he exclaimed:
"Egad, but that is fine!"

Madeleine joined him and placing both of her hands on her