He continued to look at her, and wishing to explain herself, she said:  “I supposed only one thing, and that is that I might offend you by asking you to do what is contrary to your beliefs.”

The mad anger that carried him away so stupidly began to lose its first violence; another word added to what had already escaped him would be an avowal.

“Do not let us talk of it anymore,” he said.  “Above all, do not let us think of it.”

“Permit me to say one word,” she replied.  “Had I been situated like other people I would have asked nothing; my will is yours.  But for you, for your future and your honor, you should not appear to marry in secret, as if ashamed, with a pariah.”

“Be easy.  I feel as you do, more than you, the necessity of consecrated ceremonies for us.”

She understood that on this path he would go farther than she.

To destroy the impression of this unfortunate word, he proposed that they should visit the apartment he had engaged the previous day.

For the first time they walked together boldly, with heads held high, side by side in the streets of Paris, without fear of meeting others.  How proud she was!  Her husband!  It was on her husband’s arm that she leaned!  When they crossed the Tuileries she was almost surprised that people did not turn to see them pass.

In her present state of mind she could not but find the house he chose admirable; the street was admirable, the house was admirable, the apartment was admirable.

As it contained three bedrooms opening on a terrace, where he would keep the animals for his experiments, Saniel wished to have her decide which one she would choose; as she would share it with him she wished to take the best, but he would not accept this arrangement.

“I want you to choose between the two little ones,” he said.  “The largest and best must be reserved for your mother, who, not being able to go out, needs more space, air, and light than we do.”

She was transported with his kindness, delicacy, and generosity.  Never would she be able to love him enough to raise herself up to him.

Fortunately the principal rooms, the parlor and the office, were about the same size as those in the Rue Louis-le-Grand, so there need be but little change in furnishing; and they would bring their furniture from the Rue des Moines.

This feminine talk, interrupted by passionate exclamations and glances, charmed Saniel, who had forgotten the incident of the confession and his anger, thinking only of Phillis, seeing only her, ravished by her gayety, her vivacity, his whole being stirred by the tender caresses of her beautiful dark eyes.

How could he not be happy with this delicious woman who held such sway over him, and who loved him so ardently?  For him a single danger henceforth—­solitude.  She would preserve him from it.  With her gayety, good temper, courage, and love, she would not leave him to his thoughts; work would do the rest.