She does not reply: she wishes a moment to collect her thoughts and regain her calmness.
"A dream," he continues, "which many poor fellows dream, and live in, and make a reality of—alas! never to be realized."
"Perhaps the world has changed since the old Arcadian days," murmurs Belle-bouche, gazing down with rosy cheeks, and a bad attempt at ease. "You know the earth has become different."
"Yes, yes," sighs Jacques; "I very much fear all this is folly."
"Who knows but——"
She pauses.
Jacques raises his eyes, and their glances meet. She stops abruptly, and looks away. It is not affectation in her. That deep blush is wholly irrepressible.
Jacques seizes her hand, and says:
"Give me the assurance that such things can be! Tell me that this dream could be realized!"
She turns away.