That obliges me to have more reserve than a girl whose mother is with her.

So you must not be offended if I do not behave exactly as others might, and rest assured that it will not prevent me from being a good wife to you, when we are married." "Well, now," thought Claudet, as he was returning despondently to Vivey: "I can't help thinking that a little caress now and then wouldn't hurt any one!" Under these conditions it is not to be supposed he was in a mood to relate any of the details of such meagre lovemaking.

His self-love was wounded by Reine's coldness.

Having always been "cock-of-the-walk," he could not understand why he had such poor success with the only one about whom he was in earnest.

He kept quiet, therefore, hiding his anxiety under the mask of careless indifference.