"It seems to me that you have had plenty of time and a perfect right to forget her. I seem to recall that that was your hope when you went away."
"That may be; but I have not been able to do it. I tried to distract my thoughts, to fall in love with other women. One day, I fancied that I was; but the illusion soon vanished; and then, the last time I met Fanny, she was so sweet with me that the memory of that occasion was not well calculated to destroy my love."
"Then you love her? you are sure of it?"
"Nonsense, my dear fellow! why do you ask me that?"
"Oh! because I had thought of something else; and if you were no longer in love with the widow—— But, as you are still daft over her, why, that's at an end; and I believe that things will go on now to suit you."
"I am going to see Adolphine, Fanny's sister, to-day."
"Why shouldn't you go to see Fanny herself? I should say that that would be the shortest way. I can give you her address."
"Oh! you can't mean that, my friend! that I should go to that young widow's house at once—I, who have not been to see her since her marriage! It wouldn't be proper. She must give me permission first."
"But, as she urged you to call on her when she was a married woman, it seems to me that she can afford to receive you now that she's a widow."
"To be sure, but not right away; I must see her first, at her father's. She must go there often, now?"