"What do you mean, my dear child?" I asked her. She did not reply, but burst into tears.
These tears, of which I understood the cause only too well, hurt me terribly. But I concealed the species of frenzy which they aroused in me and returned to my seat by her side.
"Poor Juliette!" I said to her; "will that wound bleed forever?"
"You gave me leave to weep," she replied; "that was the first of our agreements."
"Weep, my poor afflicted darling," I said; "then listen and answer me."
She wiped away her tears and put her hand in mine.
"Juliette," I said to her, "when you speak of yourself as a kept woman, you are mad. Of what consequence are the opinions and coarse remarks of a few fools? You are my friend, my companion, my mistress."
"Alas! yes," she said, "I am your mistress, Aleo, and it is that dishonors me; I should have chosen to die rather than to bequeath to a noble heart like yours the possession of a half extinct heart."
"We will rekindle the ashes gradually, my Juliette; let me hope that they still hide a spark which I can find."
"Yes, yes, I hope so, I wish that it may be so!" she said eagerly. "So I shall be your wife? But why? Shall I love you better for it? Will you feel surer of me?"