"I said love, Hena—"
"Love, attachment, tenderness—is it not all one?"
"You spoke to me day before yesterday of Brother St. Ernest-Martyr."
"I did. And only a short time ago I was talking about him with mother—" Suddenly breaking off, Hena exclaimed: "Good God! Dear, good mother! When I think of her being all alone at this hour on the street, without anyone to protect her!"
"Be not alarmed. Our mother runs no danger whatever."
"May heaven hear you, Hervé!"
"Let us return to Brother St. Ernest-Martyr, of whom you were just before speaking with mother. Do you love the monk in the same manner that you love me?"
"Can the two things be compared? I have spent my life beside you; you are my brother—on the other hand, I have seen that poor monk but five or six times, and then for a minute only."
"You love him—do not lie!"
"My God! In what a tone you speak, Hervé. I have nothing to conceal."