ld not
be otherwise. And then they began to kiss and hug again, without putting
any more restraint upon themselves than if we had not been there; and
then they whispered together, and got up and went off among the trees,
without saying a word. You may fancy what I looked like, alone with this
young fellow whom I saw for the first time. I felt so confused at seeing
them go that it gave me courage, and I began to talk. I asked him what
his business was, and he said he was a linen draper's assistant, as I
told you just now. We talked for a few minutes, and that made him bold,
and he wanted to take liberties with me, but I told him sharply to keep
his place. Is not that true, Monsieur Beaurain?"

Monsieur Beaurain, who was looking at his feet in confusion, did not
reply, and she continued: "Then he saw that I was virtuous, and he began
to make love to me nicely, like an honorable man, and from that time he
came every Sunday, for he was very much in love with me. I was very fond
of him also, very fond of him! He was a good-looking fellow, formerly,
and in short he married me the next September, and we started in business
in the Rue des Martyrs.

"It was a hard struggle for some years, monsieur. Business did not
prosper, and we could not afford many country excursions, and, besides,
we had got out of the way of them. One has other things in one's head,
and thinks more of the cash box than of pretty speeches, when one is in
business. We were growing old by degrees without perceiving it, like
quiet people who do not think much about love. One does not regret
anything as long as one does not notice what one has lost.

"And then, monsieur, business became better, and we were tranquil as to
the future! Then, you see, I do not exactly know what went on in my mind,
no, I really do not know, but I began to dream like a little
boarding-school girl. The sight of the little carts full of flowers which
are drawn about the streets made me cry; the smell of violets sought me
out in my easy-chair, behind my cash box, and made my heart beat! Then I
would get up and go out on the doorstep to look at the blue sky between
the roofs. When one looks up at the sky from the street, it looks like a
river which is descending on Paris, winding as it flows, and the swallows
pass to and fro in it like fish. These ideas are very stupid at my age!
But how can one help it, monsieur, when one has worked all one's life? A
moment comes in which one perceive