"O, I am so glad," she said, "that you have come! I did so want to see you, to ask you about something!"
"I never see you alone now," said Claude, sadly, holding her hand as though unwilling to relinquish it.
"No," said Mimi, with a slight flush, gently withdrawing her hand, "I am never alone, and there are so many callers; but M. Florian has gone out, taking the madame, on an affair of some importance; and so, you see, we can talk without interruption."
"Especially if we walk over into the garden," said Claude.
Mimi assented, and the two walked into the garden that was on the west side of the residence, and for some time neither of them said a word. The trees had just come into leaf; for the season is late in this climate, but the delay is made good by the rapid growth of vegetation after it has once started; and now the leaves were bursting forth in glorious richness and profusion, some more advanced than others, and exhibiting every stage of development. The lilacs, above all, were conspicuous for beauty; for they were covered with blossoms, with the perfume of which the air was loaded.
"I never see you now," said Claude, at length.
"It is not as it used to be," said Claude, with a mournful smile, "when I walked by your side day after day."
"It is different with you," said Claude; "you are the centre of universal admiration, and everybody pays you attention. The time never passes heavily with you; but think of me--miserable, obscure, friendless!"
Mimi turned, and looked at him with such a piteous face that Claude stopped short. Her eyes were fixed on his with tender melancholy and reproach. They were filled with tears.
"And do you really believe that?" she said--"that the time never passes heavily with me? It has been a sad time ever since I came here. Think how short a time it is since poor, dear papa left me! Do you think I can have the heart for much enjoyment?"
"Forgive me," said Claude, deeply moved; "I had forgotten; I did not think what I was saying; I was too selfish."
"That is true," said Mimi. "While you were suffering from loneliness, you should have thought that I, too, was suffering, even in the midst of the crowd. But what are they all to me? They are all strangers. It is my friends that I want to see; and you are away, and the good Père Michel never comes!"