te understood what he meant, but I
replied that it would be no good; for I was virtuous, monsieur.

"The next day we met Monsieur Beaurain at the railway station, and
in those days he was good-looking, but I had made up my mind not to
encourage him, and I did not. Well, we arrived at Bezons. It was a
lovely day, the sort of day that touches your heart. When it is fine
even now, just as it used to be formerly, I grow quite foolish, and
when I am in the country I utterly lose my head. The green grass, the
swallows flying so swiftly, the smell of the grass, the scarlet poppies,
the daisies, all that makes me crazy. It is like champagne when one is
not accustomed to it!

"Well, it was lovely weather, warm and bright, and it seemed to
penetrate your body through your eyes when you looked and through your
mouth when you breathed. Rose and Simon hugged and kissed each other
every minute, and that gave me a queer feeling! Monsieur Beaurain and I
walked behind them, without speaking much, for when people do not know
each other, they do not find anything to talk about. He looked timid,
and I liked to see his embarrassment. At last we got to the little wood;
it was as cool as in a bath there, and we four sat down. Rose and her
lover teased me because I looked rather stern, but you will understand
that I could not be otherwise. And then they began to kiss and hug
again, without putting any more restraint upon themselves than if we had
not been there; and then they whispered together, and got up and went
off among the trees, without saying a word. You may fancy what I looked
like, alone with this young fellow whom I saw for the first time. I felt
so confused at seeing them go that it gave me courage, and I began to
talk. I asked him what his business was, and he said he was a linen
draper's assistant, as I told you just now. We talked for a few minutes,
and that made him bold, and he wanted to take liberties with me, but
I told him sharply to keep his place. Is not that true, Monsieur
Beaurain?"

Monsieur Beaurain, who was looking at his feet in confusion, did not
reply, and she continued: "Then he saw that I was virtuous, and he began
to make love to me nicely, like an honorable man, and from that time he
came every Sunday, for he was very much in love with me. I was very fond
of him also, very fond of him! He was a good-looking fellow, formerly,
and in short he married me the next September, and we started in
business in the Ru