"I cannot tell you now," he replied, "but, dear one, you know that I have opened up my soul to you, so that you might be able to understand me."
"I do understand you, Henri, you know I do."
"Then you will trust me, won't you?"
Renée merely squeezed his hand, and looked into his eyes with a smile.
"Of course I will," she added, as a slight cloud passed over Delapine's brow. "But does it mean that we shall be separated again?" she enquired after a long pause.
"Yes, Renée, for some little time to come. But take courage, ma chérie, as I told you before it will all come right. And now, dear, the coffee is coming, and I hear Dr. Villebois in the hall."
Renée rushed back to the piano and began turning over her music, while the professor sank demurely into an armchair, and was apparently deeply engaged in reading the Petit Journal upside down when Villebois walked into the room.
"Well, Delapine, mon brave, how is it that you are here so early?"
"As a matter of fact I had some very important business to attend to here, and so I came a little earlier than I intended."
"I hope the business proved satisfactory?"