As he would not give in, the countess resigned herself to what she called his “schoolgirl crotchet,” and they traveled together to St. Valery-en-Caux, another little seaside place several hours’ journey from Ault.

Here they took rooms together at a hotel, and wrote themselves down as man and wife.  The countess’ letters were forwarded by the postmistress at Ault under cover to Anne.  The only thing that disturbed Wilhelm’s peace of mind was the presence of Anne.  Her manner was just as impassive, her face as solemn as before, and she never showed that she noticed any change in her mistress way of life.  But it was just this cold-blooded acceptance of facts which must at the very least excite her remark that upset him so much, and every time Anne came into the room and found him with Pilar, he was as much ashamed as if she had surprised him in some cowardly and wicked deed.  Did he happen to be sitting beside her on the sofa, he started as if to jump up; if he had hold of her hand, he dropped it on the spot.  Pilar noticed it, of course, and thought it an excellent joke.  She was herself perfectly unconcerned before Anne, and put no constraint on herself whatever in her presence.  On the contrary, she thought it great fun to throw her arms round Wilhelm when the maid came and he attempted to move away, or she would tutoyer him and kiss him to her face, and was intensely amused at his embarrassed and miserable air as he suffered her caresses, though not without a stolen gesture of objection.  His shyness was not unobserved by Anne’s quick though furtive eyes, and she owed him a grudge for wishing to exclude her from his secret.

But with the exception of the discomfort caused him by this silent witness, his happiness was unalloyed.  He lived in a constant rapture of the senses, and Pilar took good care that he should not awake from it.  She never left him to himself, except during the two hours in the morning which she devoted to her toilette.  It was her peculiar habit to steal away in the early morning while Wilhelm was still asleep, and repair noiselessly to the dressing-room, where Anne was already waiting, and where she gave herself up into the skilled hands of the maid, who kneaded her, washed and rubbed her, and treated her hands, feet, and hair with consummate art, and the aid of an army of curious instruments and an exhaustive collection of cosmetics.  She would then appear to wake Wilhelm with a kiss.  On opening his eyes it was to see her in the full glory of her beauty, with the flush of health upon her cheeks, with rosy fingers, her skin cool, soft and perfumed, her eyes bright, her lips smiling, and her magnificent hair in order.  But from that moment onward she was always about him, nestling close to him when they were alone, her eyes on his when they walked arm in arm through the streets.