With Sidonie, on the contrary, he was exceedingly embarrassed and shy, and at the same time desirous of producing an effect—­a totally different man, in short.  She had just the spurious charm, a little free, which was calculated to attract a superficial nature, and it was not long before she discovered the impression that she produced upon him.

When the two girls were walking together in the park, it was always Sidonie who remembered that it was time for the train from Paris to arrive.  They would go together to the gate to meet the travellers, and Georges’s first glance was always for Mademoiselle Chebe, who remained a little behind her friend, but with the poses and airs that go halfway to meet the eyes.  That manoeuvring between them lasted some time.  They did not mention love, but all the words, all the smiles they exchanged were full of silent avowals.

One cloudy and threatening summer evening, when the two friends had left the table as soon as dinner was at an end and were walking in the long, shady avenue, Georges joined them.  They were talking upon indifferent subjects, crunching the gravel beneath their idling footsteps, when Madame Fromont’s voice, from the chateau, called Claire away.  Georges and Sidonie were left alone.  They continued to walk along the avenue, guided by the uncertain whiteness of the path, without speaking of drawing nearer to each other.

A warm wind rustled among the leaves.  The ruffled surface of the pond lapped softly against the arches of the little bridge; and the blossoms of the acacias and lindens, detached by the breeze, whirled about in circles, perfuming the electricity-laden air.  They felt themselves surrounded by an atmosphere of storm, vibrant and penetrating.  Dazzling flashes of heat passed before their troubled eyes, like those that played along the horizon.

“Oh! what lovely glow-worms!” exclaimed Sidonie, embarrassed by the oppressive silence broken by so many mysterious sounds.

On the edge of the greensward a blade of grass here and there was illuminated by a tiny, green, flickering light.  She stooped to lift one on her glove.  Georges knelt close beside her; and as they leaned down, their hair and cheeks touching, they gazed at each other for a moment by the light of the glow-worms.  How weird and fascinating she seemed to him in that green light, which shone upon her face and died away in the fine network of her waving hair!  He put his arm around her waist, and suddenly, feeling that she abandoned herself to him, he clasped her in a long, passionate embrace.

“What are you looking for?” asked Claire, suddenly coming up in the shadow behind them.

Taken by surprise, and with a choking sensation in his throat, Georges trembled so that he could not reply.  Sidonie, on the other hand, rose with the utmost coolness, and said as she shook out her skirt: 

“The glow-worms.  See how many of them there are tonight.  And how they sparkle.”