black. But the walls of the room were hung with admirable stuffs, and
the working materials disappeared in the midst of a marvellous luxury
of furniture. In one corner, on an old tabernacle which served as a
pedestal, a great gilded statue of the Blessed Virgin seemed to smile
upon them.

"So you can work--you really can work," repeated Angelique with childish
joy.

She was very much amused with the little furnace, and insisted upon it
that he should explain to her everything connected with his labour.
Why he contented himself with the examples of the old masters, who used
glass coloured in the making, which he shaded simply with black; the
reason he limited himself to little, distinct figures, to the gestures
and draperies of which he gave a decided character; his ideas upon the
art of the glass-workers, which in reality declined as soon as they
began to design better, to paint, and to enamel it; and his final
opinion that a stained-glass window should be simply a transparent
mosaic, in which the brightest colours should be arranged in the most
harmonious order, so as to make a delicate, shaded bouquet. But at this
moment little did she care for the art in itself. These things had but
one interest for her now--that they were connected with him, that they
seemed to bring her nearer to him and to strengthen the tie between
them.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "how happy we shall be together. You will paint,
while I embroider."

He had just retaken her hands, in the centre of this great room, in
the luxury of which she was quite at her ease, as it seemed to be her
natural surrounding, where her grace would be fully developed. Both of
them remained silent for a moment. Then she was, as usual, the first to
speak.

"Now everything is decided upon, is it not?"

"What?" he smilingly asked, "what do you mean?"

"Our marriage."

He hesitated an instant. His face, which had been very pale, flushed
quickly. She was disturbed at such a change.

"Have I made you angry in any way?"

But he had already conquered himself, and pressed her hands tenderly,
with a grasp that seemed to cover everything.

"Yes, it is decided upon, and it is sufficient for you to wish for a
thing that it should be done, no matter how many obstacles may oppose
it. Henceforward my one great desire in life will be to obey you."

Then her face beamed with perfect happiness and delight.

She did not have a single doubt. All seemed to her quite natural, to