Adolphine blushed, but made haste to reply:
"No, you are mistaken. I never think of any man; it is not right of you to say that."
"Very well! then, my dear girl, I say again that it was perfectly absurd of you to refuse those two! Adieu! I am going to select some flowers for my head, for I am going to a large party to-night, and I propose to eclipse all the other women."
Some little time after this interview, Adolphine was alone, thinking of him whose image was always present in her mind; for she had not told her sister the truth when she said that she never thought of any man; but there are passions which one does not choose to confide except to a heart capable of understanding them, and she was well aware that Fanny would not understand hers.
Madeleine suddenly entered her mistress's room, and said:
"Mamzelle, a young man wants to speak to you."
"To me? He probably has business with my father."
"No, mamzelle; it was you he asked to see--and monsieur your father isn't at home, either."
Soon the door opened anew, and Gustave appeared before Adolphine. The girl uttered an exclamation, for she recognized him at once; and she was so disturbed that she had to lean upon a chair.
"What! is it you, Monsieur Gustave?" she murmured.
Madeleine retired, for she read in her mistress's eyes that the visit caused her no displeasure.
"Yes, Mademoiselle Adolphine," Gustave replied; "yes, my dear sister. Ah! allow me to call you by that name still, as I used, for we have had no falling-out; you have not spurned me, and I venture to hope that you still feel for me a little of that sweet friendship which you seemed to feel in the old days."
Adolphine was so perturbed that she could hardly stammer:
"Of course--yes--I have no reason not to be the same as always with you. But do sit down, Monsieur Gustave. Mon Dieu!--how strange it is!--it's only five months since we saw each other--and you seem changed---- Oh! not for the worse--on the contrary--you have a more serious, more thoughtful, air than before. Is it the result of your travels?"
Adolphine was right; the five months which Gustave had passed away from France had wrought a very considerable change in him, to his advantage; he had lost that bewildered, hare-brained look which people used to criticise in him; now he was a man--young, no doubt, but whose serious, sedate, sensible aspect indicated a person who was accustomed to think before speaking, and to reflect before acting. His face had gained vastly by the change; his manner was colder, perhaps, but you realized that you could rely on what he said. Lastly, the faintest shadow of melancholy that could still be detected on his brow gave an added charm to the gentle expression of his eyes and to the tone of his voice.