The sound of footsteps not far away aroused them both from their delirious excitement. The princess rose, somewhat alarmed by the approach of strangers, and, seizing Michel's arm, hurried on toward her villa with him. She walked more rapidly than before, carefully veiled, but leaning upon him with a sacred joy. And he, with wildly-beating heart, bewildered with happiness, but penetrated with the most profound respect, hardly dared to raise to his lips from time to time the hand that he held in his.
Not until he saw the gate of the princess's garden before him did he recover the power of speech.
"What! leave you already?" he said anxiously; "part so soon? It is impossible! I shall die of excitement and despair."
"We must part here," said the princess. "The time has not come when we shall not part at all. But that happy day will come soon. Have no fear; leave everything to me. Rely upon me and my boundless love to see to it that we are united forever."
"Is it possible? Do these words that I hear really come from your mouth? That day will come, you say? We shall be united? we shall never part? Oh! do not trifle with my simplicity! I dare not believe in such happiness; and yet, when it is you who say it, I cannot doubt!"
"Doubt the permanence of the stars that shine above us, doubt your own existence rather than the power of my heart to overcome the obstacles which seem to you so immense, but which now seem to me so trifling! Ah! on the day when I shall no longer have aught except the world to fear, I shall be very strong, I promise you!" "The world?" said Michel. "Ah! yes, I remember; I had forgotten everything except you and myself. The world will deny you, the world will be offended with you, all because of me! O God, forgive the impulses of my pride! I abhor them now. Oh! let my happiness be shrouded in mystery, and let no one know of it! I insist that it shall be so; I will never suffer you to ruin yourself for love of me."
"Noble-hearted child!" cried the princess, "let your mind be at rest; we will triumph together; but I thank you for this generous impulse of your heart. Ah! yes, all your impulses are generous, I know. I am not happy simply, I am proud of you!"
And she took the young man's head in both hands and kissed him again.
But Michel thought that he heard footsteps a short distance away, and the fear of compromising that courageous woman triumphed over his happiness.
"We may be watched or surprised," he said to her; "I am sure that someone is coming this way. Fly! I will stay hidden in the bushes here until these people, whether spies or mere passers-by, are out of hearing. But we shall meet to-morrow, shall we not?"