Diane, with blushing cheeks, rose and walked away a few steps.
"Are you going, Diane? You are flying from me!" said the youth, sadly.
"Oh, no indeed!" said she eagerly, drawing near again. "With you it is very different; and I have no fear, dearest."
Diane was wrong; it was a different sort of danger that threatened her now, but danger nevertheless; and it might be that the friend was as much to be feared as the foe.
"That is right, Diane!" said Gabriel, taking the little hand, white and soft, which she surrendered to him once more; "that is as it should be. Let us enjoy a little happiness after all we have gone through. Let us give free play to our hearts to revel in their confidence and joy."
"Yes, indeed; it is so good to be near you, Gabriel!" Diane replied. "Let us forget the world and the uproar around us for a moment; let us enjoy to the full the unaccustomed sweetness of this hour. God, I think, will allow us to do so without anxiety or dread. You are right; else why have we suffered so?"
With a graceful movement which was common with her when she was a child, she laid her lovely head upon Gabriel's shoulder; her great velvety eyes slowly closed, and her hair brushed the lips of the ardent youth.
It was he then who rose, shuddering and bewildered.
"Well, what is it?" said Diane, opening her drooping eyes in wonder.
He fell on his knees before her, pale as a ghost, and threw his arms about her.