y, and then I
went to sleep also.

She got up early, like a woman who is used to work in the morning. She
woke me up by doing so, and I watched her through my half-closed
eyelids.

She came and went without hurrying herself, as if she were astonished at
having nothing to do. At length she went to the toilet-table, and in a
moment she emptied all the scent that remained in my bottles. She
certainly also used some water, but very little.

When she was quite dressed, she sat down on her box again, and holding
one knee between her hands, she seemed to be thinking.

At that moment I first pretended to notice her, and said:

"Good morning, Francesca."

Without seeming in at all a better temper than the previous night, she
murmured, "Good morning."

When I asked her whether she slept well, she nodded _Yes_, and jumping
out of bed, I went and kissed her.

She turned her face towards me like a child who is being kissed against
its will; but I took her tenderly in my arms, and gently put my lips on
her large eyes, which she closed with evident distaste under my kisses
on her fresh cheeks and full lips which she turned away.

"You don't seem to like being kissed," I said to her.

"_Mica_" was her only answer.

I sat down on the trunk by her side, and, passing my arm through hers, I
said: "_Mica! mica! mica_! in reply to everything. I shall call you
Mademoiselle _Mica_, I think."

For the first time I fancied that I saw the shadow of a smile on her
lips, but it passed by so quickly that I may have been mistaken.

"But if you never say anything but _Mica_ I shall not know what to do to
try to please you. Let us see; what shall we do to-day?"

She hesitated a moment as if some fancy had flitted through her head,
and then she said carelessly: "It is all the same to me; whatever you
like."

"Very well, Mademoiselle _Mica_, we will have a carriage and go for a
drive."

"As you please," she said.

Paul was waiting for us in the dining-room, looking as bored as third
parties generally do in love affairs. I assumed a delighted air, and
shook hands with him with triumphant energy.

"What are you thinking of doing?" he asked.

"First of all we will go and see a little of the town, and then we might
take a carriage, for a drive in the neighborhood."

We breakfasted nearly in silence and then started. I dragged Francesca
from palace to palace, and she either looked at nothing or merely just
glanced carelessly at all