y, they said. "You must
write to us often, and long letters about the interesting things on the
journey, the place you stay in. For one can see those who are far away
better when one imagines the kind of place they are inhabiting."

So talking, they reached the end of the bowered path terminating in an
immense open glade through which there moved the tumult of the Bois,
carriages and riders on horseback alternating with each other, and the
crowd at that distance seeming to be tramping through a flaky dust
which blended it into a single confused herd. Paul slackened his pace,
emboldened by this last minute of solitude.

"Do you know what I am thinking of?" he said, taking Aline's hand. "I am
thinking that it would be a pleasure to be unhappy so as to be comforted
by you. But however precious your pity may be to me, I cannot allow
you to waste your compassion on an imaginary pain. No, my heart is not
broken, but more alive, on the contrary, and stronger. And if I were to
tell you what miracle it is that has preserved it, what talisman--"

He held out before her eyes a little oval frame in which was set
a simple profile, a pencil outline wherein she recognised herself,
surprised to see herself so pretty, reflected, as it were, in the magic
mirror of Love. Tears came into her eyes without her knowing the reason,
an open spring whose stream beat within her chaste breast. He continued:

"This portrait belongs to me. It was drawn for me. And yet, at the
moment of starting on this journey I have a scruple. I do not wish to
have it except from yourself. Take it, then, and if you find a worthier
friend, some one who loves you with a love deeper and more loyal than
mine, I am willing that you should give it to him."

She had regained her composure, and looking de Gery full in the face
with a serious tenderness, she said:

"If I listened only to my heart, I should feel no hesitation about my
reply: for, if you love me as you say, I am sure that I love you too.
But I am not free; I am not alone in the world. Look yonder."

She pointed to her father and her sisters, who were beckoning to them in
the distance and hastening to come up with them.

"Well, and I myself?" answered Paul quickly. "Have I not similar duties,
similar responsibilities? We are like two widowed heads of families.
Will you not love mine as much as I love yours?"

"True? is it true? You will let me stay with them? I shall be Aline for
you, and Bonne Maman