"Forgive me, madame; in future I will keep awake, if that will give you pleasure; and it will be all the easier for me, because I feel that you have robbed me of repose forever!"
Thélénie looked at him severely, and said:
"So you absolutely persist in talking to me about love, do you, monsieur?"
"Insist upon it! Why, madame, I came here for no other purpose."
"Ah! that is true frankness! I am going to be as frank with you, monsieur: perhaps you hope to make me your mistress?"
"Oh! madame, I dare not say that I hope it, but I may at least confess that it would be to me the height of felicity! And if the purest love, the most immovable constancy will avail me anything, put me to the test."
"I had an idea that you were in mourning, monsieur. Yes, there is a band on your hat. You are in mourning for your wife, are you not?"
"Yes, madame, for my wife, whom I regret; that is to say, I did regret her profoundly and weep bitterly for her; but it was for the very purpose of putting an end to my grief that I welcomed with joy this new love which has taken possession of my heart, my senses, my——"
"What do you take me for, monsieur?"
Chamoureau was embarrassed; that seemed to him an artful question.