ked me sooner. I am not reserved; but, you must
excuse my saying it, you are walled in like a subterranean passage. One
can not get at the color of your thoughts. I never for a moment
imagined that you were interested in Reine, and you never have made me
sufficiently at home to entertain the idea of confiding in you on that
subject."

Julien remained silent. He had reseated himself at the table, where,
leaning his head in his hands, he pondered over what Claudet had said.
He placed his hand so as to screen his eyes, and bit his lips as if a
painful struggle was going on within him. The splendors of the setting
sun had merged into the dusky twilight, and the last piping notes of the
birds sounded faintly among the sombre trees. A fresh breeze had sprung
up, and filled the darkening room with the odor of honeysuckle.

Under the soothing influence of the falling night, Julien slowly raised
his head, and addressing Claudet in a low and measured voice like a
father confessor interrogating a penitent, said:

"Does Reine know that you love her?"

"I think she must suspect it," replied Claudet, "although I never have
ventured to declare myself squarely. But girls are very quick, Reine
especially. They soon begin to suspect there is some love at bottom,
when a young man begins to hang around them too frequently."

"You see her often, then?"

"Not as often as I should like. But, you know, when one lives in the
same district, one has opportunities of meeting--at the beech harvest,
in the woods, at the church door. And when you meet, you talk but
little, making the most of your time. Still, you must not suppose, as
I think you did, that we have rendezvous in the evening. Reine respects
herself too much to go about at night with a young man as escort, and
besides, she has other fish to fry. She has a great deal to do at the
farm, since her father has become an invalid."

"Well, do you think she loves you?" said Julien, with a movement of
nervous irritation.

"I can not tell," replied Claudet shrugging his shoulders, "she has
confidence in me, and shows me some marks of friendship, but I never
have ventured to ask her whether she feels anything more than friendship
for me. Look here, now. I have good reasons for keeping back; she
is rich and I am poor. You can understand that I would not, for any
consideration, allow her to think that I am courting her for her
money--"

"Still, you desire to marry her, and you hope that sh