hout seeming to notice anything.

When they had finished they returned to the drawing-room, and resumed
their place on the sofa, side by side. Little by little he pressed up
against her, striving to take her in his arms. But she calmly repulsed
him, saying: "Take care; someone may come in."

He murmured: "When can I see you quite alone, to tell you how I love
you?"

She leant over towards him and whispered: "I will come and pay you a
visit one of these days."

He felt himself redden. "You know--you know--my place is very small."

She smiled: "That does not matter. It is you I shall call to see, and
not your rooms."

Then he pressed her to know when she would come. She named a day in the
latter half of the week. He begged of her to advance the date in broken
sentences, playing with and squeezing her hands, with glittering eyes,
and flushed face, heated and torn by desire, that imperious desire which
follows _tete-a-tete_ repasts. She was amazed to see him implore her
with such ardor, and yielded a day from time to time. But he kept
repeating: "To-morrow, only say to-morrow."

She consented at length. "Yes, to-morrow; at five o'clock."

He gave a long sigh of joy, and they then chatted almost quietly with an
air of intimacy, as though they had known one another twenty years. The
sound of the door bell made them start, and with a bound they separated
to a distance. She murmured: "It must be Laurine."

The child made her appearance, stopped short in amazement, and then ran
to Duroy, clapping her hands with pleasure at seeing him, and
exclaiming: "Ah! pretty boy."

Madame de Marelle began to laugh. "What! Pretty boy! Laurine has
baptized you. It's a nice little nickname for you, and I will call you
Pretty-boy, too."

He had taken the little girl on his knee, and he had to play with her at
all the games he had taught her. He rose to take his leave at twenty
minutes to three to go to the office of the paper, and on the staircase,
through the half-closed door, he still whispered: "To-morrow, at five."

She answered "Yes," with a smile, and disappeared.

As soon as he had got through his day's work, he speculated how he
should arrange his room to receive his mistress, and hide as far as
possible the poverty of the place. He was struck by the idea of pinning

a lot of Japanese trifles on the walls, and he bought for five francs
quite a collection of little fans and screens, with which he hid the
most obvious of t