oposed first!... and he is afraid perhaps of
offending me!..."

Then she said to him fondly:

"So you had never seen, dear heart, that I loved you?"

They seemed to themselves to be alone, the only two beings in the
universe. In his exaltation, Evariste raised his eyes to the firmament
flashing with blue and gold:

"See, the sky is looking down at us! It is benign; it is adorable, as
you are, beloved; it has your brightness, your gentleness, your smile."

He felt himself one with all nature, it formed part and parcel of his
joy and triumph. To his eyes, it was to celebrate his betrothal that the
chestnut blossoms lit their flaming candles, the poplars burned aloft
like giant torches.

He exulted in his strength and stature. She, with her softer as well as
finer nature, more pliable and more malleable, rejoiced in her very
weakness and, his subjection once secured, instantly bowed to his
ascendancy; now she had brought him under her slavery, she acknowledged
him for the master, the hero, the god, burned to obey, to admire, to
offer her homage. In the shade of the shrubbery he gave her a long,
ardent kiss, which she received with head thrown back and, clasped in
Evariste's arms, felt all her flesh melt like wax.

They went on talking a long time of themselves, forgetful of the
universe. Evariste abounded mainly in vague, high thoughts, which filled
Elodie with ecstasy. She spoke sweetly of things of practical utility
and personal interest. Then, presently, when she felt she could stay no
longer, she rose with a decided air, gave her lover the three red
carnations from the flower in her balcony and sprang lightly into the
cabriolet in which she had driven there. It was a hired carriage,
painted yellow, hung on very high wheels and certainly had nothing out
of the common about it, or the coachman either. But Gamelin was not in
the habit of hiring carriages and his friends were hardly more used to
such an indulgence. To see the great wheels whirling her away gave him a
strange pang and a painful presentiment assailed him; by a sort of
hallucination of the mind, the hack horse seemed to be carrying Elodie
away from him beyond the bounds of the actual world and present time
towards a city of wealth and pleasure, towards abodes of luxury and
enjoyment, which he would never be able to enter.

The carriage disappeared. Evariste recovered his calm by degrees; but a
dull anguish remained and he felt that the hours of tende