"Yes, darling! Do not say you wish you never had received the great gifts God has given you. Do not judge of things by Sorrow's measurement only. I repeat—you ARE loved—though not perhaps where you most relied on love. Your father loves you—your uncle loves you—Manuel loves you . . ."
Angela interrupted her with a protesting gesture.
"Yes—I know," she murmured, "but—"
"But you think all this love is worthless, as compared with a love that was no love at all?" said Sylvie. "There! We will not speak about it any more just now,—you are not strong, and you see things in their darkest light. Shall I talk to you about Aubrey?"
"Ah! That is a subject you are never tired of!" said Angela with a faint smile. "Nor am I."
"Well, you ought to be," answered Sylvie gaily, "for I am too blindly, hopelessly in love to know when to stop! I see nothing else and know nothing else—it is Aubrey, Aubrey all the time. The air, the sunlight, the whole world, seem only an admirable exposition of Aubrey!"
"Then how would you feel if he did not love you any more?" asked Angela.
"But that is not possible!" said Sylvie. "Aubrey could not change. It is not in him. He is not like our poor friend Fontenelle."
"Ah! That love of yours was only fancy, Sylvie!"
"We all have our fancies!" answered the pretty Comtesse, looking very earnestly into Angela's eyes. "We are not always sure that what we first call love is love. But I had much more than a fancy for the Marquis Fontenelle. If he had loved me—as I think he did at the last—I should certainly have married him. But during all the time I knew him he had a way of relegating all women to the same level—servants, actresses, ballet-dancers, and ladies alike,—he would never admit that there is as much difference between one woman and another as between one man and another. And this is a mistake many men make. Fontenelle wished to treat me as Miraudin would have treated his 'leading lady';—he judged that quite sufficient for happiness. Now Aubrey treats me as his comrade,—his friend as well as his love, and that makes our confidence perfect. By the way, he spoke to me a great deal yesterday about the Abbe Vergniaud, and told me all he knew about his son Cyrillon."