She almost repented having given him the flowers when she saw what a tender reception he had given them, so she replied, suggestively: "Do not thank me; the gift is not significant.

Thousands of similar flowers grow in the forest, and one has only to stoop and gather them." He dared not reply that this bouquet, having been worn by her, was worth much more to him than any other, but he thought it, and the thought aroused in his mind a series of new ideas.

As Reine had so readily granted this first favor, was she not tacitly encouraging him to ask for others?
Was he dealing with a simple, innocent girl, or a village coquette, accustomed to be courted?
And on this last supposition should he not pass for a simpleton in the eyes of this experienced girl, if he kept himself at too great a distance.

He remembered the advice of Claudet concerning the method of conducting love-affairs smoothly with certain women of the country.

Whether she was a coquette or not, Reine had bewitched him.