The doctor returned from his round of visits at about six o’clock every evening.  He found the ladies in the garden, and sat down beside them.  On the earlier occasions, Helene started up with the idea of leaving her friends to themselves, but her sudden departure displeased Juliette greatly, and she now perforce had to remain.  She became almost a member of this family, which appeared to be so closely united.  On the doctor’s arrival his wife held up her cheek to him, always with the same loving gesture, and he kissed her; then, as Lucien began clambering up his legs, he kept him on his knees while chatting away.  The child would clap his tiny hands on his father’s mouth, pull his hair, and play so many pranks that in the upshot he had to be put down, and told to go and play with Jeanne.  The fun would bring a smile to Helene’s face, and she neglected her work for the moment, to gaze at father, mother, and child.  The kiss of the husband and wife gave her no pain, and Lucien’s tricks filled her with soft emotion.  It might have been said that she had found a haven of refuge amidst this family’s quiet content.

Meanwhile the sun would sink into the west, gilding the tree tops with its rays.  Serene peacefulness fell from the grey heavens.  Juliette, whose curiosity was insatiable, even in company with strangers, plagued her husband with ceaseless questions, and often lacked the patience to wait his replies.  “Where have you been?  What have you been about?”

Thereupon he would describe his round of visits to them, repeat any news of what was going on, or speak of some cloth or piece of furniture he had caught a glimpse of in a shop window.  While he was speaking, his eyes often met those of Helene, but neither turned away the head.  They gazed into each other’s face for a moment with grave looks, as though heart were being revealed to heart; but after a little they smiled and their eyes dropped.  Juliette, fidgety and sprightly, though she would often assume a studied languor, allowed them no opportunity for lengthy conversation, but burst with her interruptions into any talk whatever.  Still they exchanged a few words, quite commonplace, slowly articulated sentences which seemed to assume a deep meaning, and to linger in the air after having been spoken.  They approvingly punctuated each word the other uttered, as though they had thoughts in common.  It was an intimate sympathy that was growing up between them, springing from the depths of their beings, and becoming closer even when they were silent.  Sometimes Juliette, rather ashamed of monopolizing all the talk, would cease her magpie chatter.

“Dear me!” she would exclaim, “you are getting bored, aren’t you?  We are talking of matters which can have no possible interest for you.”

“Oh, never mind me,” Helene answered blithely.  “I never tire.  It is a pleasure to me to listen and say nothing.”