He excused his frequent visits to himself on the pretext of the necessity of becoming acquainted with his future wife, and Helena made the task easier for him.  The usual reserve of her manner lessened more and more; nay, the great confidence with which he at first inspired her was increased by his active assistance.  When he entered just now, she had even held out her hand to him, and inquired about the progress of his work.

He was overwhelmed with business, but so great was his pleasure in talking with her that he lingered longer than he would have deemed right under any other circumstances, and regarded it as an unpleasant interruption when Barine—­for whom his heart had throbbed so warmly only yesterday—­entered the tablinum.

The young beauty was by no means content with a brief greeting; but drew Helena entirely away from him.  Never had he seen her embrace and kiss her sister so passionately as while hurriedly telling her that she had come to bid farewell to the loved ones in her grandparents’ house.

Berenike had arrived with her, but went first to the old couple.

While Barine was telling Helena and Gorgias, also, why all this plan had been formed so hastily, Gorgias was silently comparing the two sisters.  He found it natural that he had once believed that he loved Barine; but she would not have been a fitting mistress of his house.  Life at her side would have been a chain of jealous emotions and anxieties, and her stimulating remarks and searching questions, which demanded absolute attention, would not have permitted him, after his return home, wearied by arduous toil, to find the rest for which he longed.  His eye wandered from her to her sister, as if testing the space between two newly erected pillars; and Barine, who had noticed his strange manner, suddenly laughed merrily, and asked whether they might know what building was occupying his thoughts, while a good friend was telling him that the pleasant hours in her house were over.

Gorgias started, and the apology he stammered showed so plainly how inattentively he had listened, that Barine would have had good reason to feel offended.  But one glance at her sister and another at him enabled her speedily to guess the truth.  She was pleased; for she esteemed Gorgias, and had secretly feared that she might be forced to grieve him by a refusal, but he seemed as if created for her sister.  Her arrival had probably interrupted them so, turning to Helena, she exclaimed:  “I must see my mother and our grandparents.  Meanwhile entertain our friend here.  We know each other well.  He is one of the few men who can be trusted.  That is my honest opinion, Gorgias, and I say it to you also, Helena.”

With these words she nodded to both, and Gorgias was again alone with the maiden whom he loved.