"Yes, my wife! yes, I swear it!" cried Julien, in an ecstasy of joy. "And do you too, Julie, swear it before God!"
"Mon Dieu!" said Julie, bewildered and suddenly becoming a little cowardly, "we have known each other a month——"
"No, not a month," replied Julien. "Only an hour; for we met a month ago for a quarter of an hour here, a quarter of an hour at your house, and this evening in the street for half an hour. We may as well say, Julie, that, so far as appearances go, we do not know each other at all, and yet we love each other. God above hears us and knows it well, for it was He who wished it, who still wishes it!"
"Yes, you are right," she replied excitedly, for she felt recreated by her lover's exalted faith; "we know nothing of each other but our love. Is not that enough? is not that everything? What is all the rest? You are a clever artist, an estimable young man, a good son; that is what everybody knows about you; but is it because of those things that I love you? I am a virtuous person, not ungenerous and of a gentle disposition, or so you may have heard; but that is not what made you love me. There are other good men, other estimable women, to whom we should never have thought of becoming attached; we love each other because we love each other, that is the whole story!"
"Yes, yes," said Julien, "love is like God, it is because it is, it is the alkahest! What does it matter that we discover in each other this or that peculiar development of mind or character? The great, the only business of our lives is to love, and since we possess each other's love, we have known each other a hundred years, forever—our love has neither beginning nor end!"
They hyperbolized thus for more than an hour in the studio, talking in low tones, by the vague light of the moon shining through the trees; Julie seated, Julien on his knees, hand in hand, but refraining from the kiss which would have been their ruin. Suddenly the moon, which was sinking toward the horizon, seemed to shine so brightly, that they were forced to conclude that the dawn was lending its light. Julie rose and fled, after making Julien swear a hundred times that their union was indissoluble.
Camille was greatly surprised, when she opened the door for her mistress, to find that it was nearly three o'clock.
"Are the servants still waiting for me?" inquired Madame d'Estrelle.
"Yes, madame; they think that madame has decided to pray all night by monsieur le marquis's body. The carriage went to fetch madame. Madame must have found it at the gate of the hôtel D'Ormonde?"
"No, I did not wait for it; it was too slow in coming. Monsieur Marcel Thierry brought me home by way of the pavilion, where I had to stop and talk business with him. Tell the servants to go to bed; the carriage will return when the coachman is sober."