“What are you thinking of me?” he said after a moment’s silence. “Tell me frankly, without disguise.”
“You wish to acquire the right to speak to me of myself,” she said laughing.
“You do not answer me,” he went on after a slight pause. “Take care, silence is sometimes significant.”
“Do you think I cannot guess all that you would like to say to me? Good heavens! you have already said enough.”
“Oh, if we understand each other,” he replied, smiling, “I have obtained more than I dared hope for.”
She smiled in return so graciously that she seemed to accept the courteous struggle into which all men like to draw a woman. They persuaded themselves, half in jest, half in earnest, that they never could be more to each other than they were at that moment. The young man fancied, therefore, he might give reins to a passion that could have no future; the young woman felt she might smile upon it. Marie suddenly struck her foot against a stone and stumbled.
“It seems I must,” she replied; “you would be too proud if I refused; you would fancy I feared you.”
“Ah, mademoiselle,” he said, pressing her arm against his heart that she might feel the beating of it, “you flatter my pride by granting such a favor.”
“Well, the readiness with which I do so will cure your illusions.”
“Do you wish to save me from the danger of the emotions you cause?”
“Stop, stop!” she cried; “do not try to entangle me in such boudoir riddles. I don’t like to find the wit of fools in a man of your character. See! here we are beneath the glorious sky, in the open country; before us, above us, all is grand. You wish to tell me that I am beautiful, do you not? Well, your eyes have already told me so; besides, I know it; I am not a woman whom mere compliments can please. But perhaps you would like,” this with satirical emphasis, “to talk about your _sentiments_? Do you think me so simple as to believe that sudden sympathies are powerful enough to influence a whole life through the recollections of one morning?”
“Not the recollections of a morning,” he said, “but those of a beautiful woman who has shown herself generous.”
“You forget,” she retorted, laughing, “half my attractions,--a mysterious woman, with everything odd about her, name, rank, situation, freedom of thought and manners.”