“Oh, dearest!” she exclaimed, trembling, “how-good you are!  I will set the table,” she added joyously, “and you light the fire; for we must have a bright fire to enliven us and to keep our dinner warm.  What have you ordered?”

“I do not know; two dinners.”

“So much the better!  We will have surprises.  We will leave the dishes covered before the fire, and we will take them anyhow.  Perhaps we shall eat the roast before the entree, but that will be all the more funny.”

Light, quick, busy, graceful, and charming, she came and went around the table.

When the dinner came, the table was ready, and they sat down opposite to each other.

“What happiness to be alone!” she said.  “To be able to talk and to look at each other freely!”

He looked at her with a tenderness in his eyes that she had never before seen, with a depth of serious contemplation that overwhelmed her.  From time to time little cries of happiness escaped her.

“Oh!  Dearest, dearest!” she murmured.

Yet she knew him too well not to see that a cloud of sadness often veiled these eyes full of love, and that also they were often without any expression, as if they looked within.  Suddenly she became quiet; but she could not long remain silent when she was uneasy.  Why this melancholy at such a moment?

“What a difference between this dinner,” she said, “and those of the end of October!  At that time you were harassed by the most trying difficulties, at war with creditors, menaced on all sides, without hope; and now all is smooth.  No more creditors, no more struggles.  The cares that I brought you are nearly at an end.  Life opens easy and glorious.  The end that you pursued is reached; you have only to walk straight before you, boldly and proudly.  Yet there is a sadness in your face that torments me.  What is the matter?  Speak, I beg you!  To whom should you confess, if not to the woman who adores you?”

He looked at her a long time without replying, asking himself if, for the peace of his own heart, this confession would not be better than silence; but courage failed him, pride closed his lips.

“What should be the matter?” he said.  “If my face is sad, it does not indicate faithfully what I feel; for what I feel at this moment is an ineffable sentiment of tenderness for you, an inexpressible gratitude for your love, and for the happiness that you have given me.  If I have been happy in my rough and struggling life, it is through you.  What I have had of joy, confidence, hope, memories, I owe to you; and if we had not met I should have the right to say that I have been the most miserable among the miserable.  Whatever happens to us, remember these words, my darling, and bury them in the depths of your heart, where you will find them some day when you would judge me.”

“To judge you—­I!”

“You love me, therefore you do not know me.  But the hour will come when you will wish to know exactly the man whom you have loved; when that time comes remember this evening.”