: "Now
calm yourself. It will be all right. See, this way."

He threw open a door, and the three dingy, dilapidated, little rooms,
which had not been repaired and were full of dirt, appeared to view. A
puff of damp air entered the boudoir. Juliette, ere she stepped
through all that squalor, gave final expression to her disgust.

"How could I have come here?" she exclaimed in a loud voice. "What a
hole! I shall never forgive myself."

"Be quick, be quick!" urged Helene, whose anxiety was as great as her
own.

She pushed Juliette forward, but the young woman threw herself sobbing
on her neck. She was in the throes of a nervous reaction. She was
overwhelmed with shame, and would fain have defended herself, fain
have given a reason for being found in that man's company. Then
instinctively she gathered up her skirts, as though she were about to
cross a gutter. With the tip of his boot Malignon, who had gone on
first, was clearing away the plaster which littered the back
staircase. The doors were shut once more.

Meantime, Helene had remained standing in the middle of the
sitting-room. Silence reigned there, a warm, close silence, only
disturbed by the crackling of the burnt logs. There was a singing in
her ears, and she heard nothing. But after an interval, which seemed
to her interminable, the rattle of a cab suddenly resounded. It was
Juliette's cab rolling away.

Then Helene sighed, and she made a gesture of mute gratitude. The
thought that she would not be tortured by everlasting remorse for
having acted despicably filled her with pleasant and thankful
feelings. She felt relieved, deeply moved, and yet so weak, now that
this awful crisis was over, that she lacked the strength to depart in
her turn. In her heart she thought that Henri was coming, and that he
must meet some one in this place. There was a knock at the door, and
she opened it at once.

The first sensation on either side was one of bewilderment. Henri
entered, his mind busy with thoughts of the letter which he had
received, and his face pale and uneasy. But when he caught sight of
her a cry escaped his lips.

"You! My God! It was you!"

The cry betokened more astonishment than pleasure. But soon there came
a furious awakening of his love.

"You love me, you love me!" he stammered. "Ah! it was you, and I did
not understand."

He stretched out his arm as he spoke; but Helene, who had greeted his
entrance with a smile, now started back with wan c