"I must resign myself to it," she said, extending her hand to him cordially.
The young man imprinted a burning kiss upon the white, soft hand he held.
"And so we are left alone!" she said gaily, but withdrawing her hand.
"Good heavens! yes, nearly so," he replied, falling in with her humour. "The Indian chiefs and the peons, overcome by curiosity, have joined the crowds, and kindly procured us a tête-à-tête."
"In the midst of ten thousand people!" she said, smiling.
"That is all the better; everyone is engaged with his own affairs, without troubling himself about those of others; and we can speak to each other without the fear of being interrupted by importunate persons."
"True," she said, thoughtfully; "it is frequently amidst a crowd that we find the greatest solitude."
"Does not the heart possess that great faculty of being able to isolate itself when it pleases—to fold itself, as it were, within itself?"
"And is not that faculty often a misfortune?"
"Perhaps it is," he replied, with a sigh.