What I have said in a page can be comprehended in a moment.  He spoke to me of our journey and the countries we were going to visit.

“When do you go?” he asked.

“I do not know; Madame Pierson is indisposed, and has been confined to her bed for three days.”

“For three days!” he repeated, in surprise.

“Yes; why are you astonished?”

He arose and threw himself on me, his arms extended, his eyes fixed.  He was trembling violently.

“Are you ill?” I asked, taking him by the hand.  He pressed his hand to his head and burst into tears.  When he had recovered sufficiently to speak, he said: 

“Pardon me; be good enough to leave me.  I fear I am not well; when I have sufficiently recovered I will return your visit.”

CHAPTER III

THE QUESTION OF SMITH

Brigitte was better.  She had told me that she desired to go away as soon as she was well enough to travel.  But I insisted that she ought to rest at least fifteen days before undertaking a long journey.

Whenever I attempted to persuade her to speak frankly, she assured me that the letter was the only cause of her melancholy, and begged me to say nothing more about it.  Then I tried in vain to guess what was passing in her heart.  We went to the theatre every night in order to avoid embarrassing interviews.  There we sometimes pressed each other’s hands at some fine bit of acting or beautiful strain of music, or exchanged, perhaps, a friendly glance, but going and returning we were mute, absorbed in our thoughts.

Smith came almost every day.  Although his presence in the house had been the cause of all my sorrow, and although my visit to him had left singular suspicions in my mind, still his apparent good faith and his simplicity reassured me.  I had spoken to him of the letters he had brought, and he did not appear offended, but saddened.  He was ignorant of the contents, and his friendship for Brigitte led him to censure them severely.  He would have refused to carry them, he said, had he known what they contained.  On account of Brigitte’s tone of reserve in his presence, I did not think he was in her confidence.

I therefore welcomed him with pleasure, although there was always a sort of awkward embarrassment in our meeting.  He was asked to act as intermediary between Brigitte and her relatives after our departure.  When we three were together he noticed a certain coldness and restraint which he endeavored to banish by cheerful good-humor.  If he spoke of our liaison it was with respect and as a man who looks upon love as a sacred bond; in fact, he was a kind friend, and inspired me with full confidence.