sister telling her in her
gentle voice her great joys and her little sorrows. Why then one day had
she suddenly risen and pushed her away? Why had some words of her
favourite made her treat harshly, were it only for a moment, this dear
little bird who came to seek protection with her? What had the child
said that its memory should still burn in her heart to-day?

Nina, with blushing and tears, had confessed to her that for two years
she had been in love. When she uttered the name of the man she loved
Helene had pushed her away so abruptly that the poor little thing had
fallen against a piece of furniture. The "nun" remembered her mad fit of
anger; without being touched by her sister's sobs, she shut herself in
her room, refusing to open the door each time that Nina came and knocked
at it.

On the morrow her anger had cooled and been succeeded by a sad
tenderness, a profound remorse for her harshness. She went to her
sister's room and found her asleep without having undressed, her cheeks
still showing the traces of tears. She bent over her to embrace her.
Nina flung her arms around her, whispering in her ear, with tears of joy
this time:

"I knew that you would not long be vexed with me; there was no reason
why you should be, I am no longer a child; I am eighteen; I could not
hide it from you any longer."

"But he--how does he feel towards you?" interrupted Helene.

As she put this fateful question, she pressed her hand to her heart as
though she feared it would betray her by its beating.

"I think ... he also loves me; he is so attentive, so affectionate in
his manner."

Helene did not ask any more; she forced herself to smile, and till the
hour of her departure, she was constantly with her sister; at the bottom
of her heart she wished her to be happy, but in this same heart an icy
despair was daily growing more intense.

"He has been affectionate and attentive to me also," she said to
herself. Had she not seen his gaze constantly following her? Did not the
very tone of his voice change when he spoke to her? She had deceived
herself then! And indeed how could she, the taciturn "nun," hope to
rival her graceful little sister? She had been blind, and worse than
that--ridiculous. He loved Nina, and naturally had more smiles for her
elder sister than for others.

Shortly after her sister's avowal, Helene went to pay a visit to some
relatives, where she remained several days, considering what she should
do. One