sit down. I am not walking
too fast?"

She answered "No" again, and laughed, and they went on.

Soon they left the avenue and were lost in a green alley. Then a sudden
twilight seemed to have closed down on me, an infinite sadness swelled in
my heart. I closed my eyes, and--God forgive my weakness, but the tears
came.

"Hallo! What part do you intend me to play in all this?" said Lampron
behind me.

"'What part'?"

"Yes. It's an odd notion to invite me to your trysting-place."

"Trysting-place? I haven't one."

"You mean to tell me, perhaps, that you came here by chance?"

"Certainly."

"And chanced upon the very moment and the spot where she was passing?"

"Do you want a proof? That young lady is Mademoiselle Charnot."

"Well?"

"Well, I never have said another word to her since my one visit to her
father; I have only seen her once, for a moment, in the street. You see
there can be no question of trysting-places in this case. I was wondering
at her appearance when you awoke. It is luck, or a friendly providence,
that has used the beauty of the sunlight, the breeze, and all the sweets
of April to bring her, as it brought us, to the forest."

"And that is what fetched the tears?"

"Well, no."

"What, then?"

"I don't know."

"My full-grown baby, I will tell you. You are in love with her!"

"Indeed, Sylvestre, I believe you're right. I confess it frankly to you
as to my best friend. It is an old story already; as old, perhaps, as the
day I first met her. At first her figure would rise in my imagination,
and I took pleasure in contemplating it. Soon this phantom ceased to
satisfy; I longed to see her in person. I sought her in the streets, the
shops, the theatre. I still blinded myself, and pretended that I only
wanted to ask her pardon, so as to remove, before I left Paris, the
unpleasant impression I had made at our first meeting. But now,
Sylvestre, all these false reasons have disappeared, and the true one is
clear. I love her!"

"Not a doubt of it, my friend, not a doubt of it. I have been through it
myself."

He was silent, and his eyes wandered away to the faroff woods, perhaps
back to those distant memories of his. A shadow rested on his strong
face, but only for an instant. He shook off his depression, and his old
smile came back as he said:

"It's serious, then?"

"Yes, very serious."

"I'm not surprised; she is a very pretty girl."

"Isn't she lovely?"

"Better than that, my f