Alice meanwhile had remained behind with Paule and Marcel Guibert. Her step was rather weary, and the young man asked her if she were tired.
“Here is a bench,” he said. “Do rest awhile.”
“No, thank you. I am all right. Let us go in.”
There was a touch of the imaginary invalid in her charming smile, as she added:
“It is the burden of these long summer days. Don’t you think they are very depressing?”
Marcel was astonished.
“I have never given it a thought,” he said. “I love the sun as the bringer of life. And I love long days, for they seem to lengthen our time on earth.”
Paule was silent and absent-minded, her eyes turned toward the house. She recognised a visitor who was ringing at the big gate.
“It is Monsieur de Marthenay,” she said.
Alice’s clear eyes clouded over and the color vanished from her cheeks. She sat down on the seat which she had just refused and invited Paule to do the same.