Francois Paradis ...

Then suddenly, with sweet intimacy,--Francois! The evocation fails not.

He stands before her tall and strong, bold of eye, his face bronzed with sun and snow-glare.

He is by her side, rejoicing at the sight of her, rejoicing that he has kept his faith, has lived the whole year discreetly, without drinking or swearing.
There are no blueberries yet to gather-it is only springtime-yet some good reason they find for rambling off to the woods; he walks beside her without word or joining of hands, through the massed laurel flaming into blossom, and naught beyond does either need to flush the cheek, to quicken the beating of the heart.
Now they are seated upon a fallen tree, and thus he speaks: "Were you lonely without me, Maria ?" Most surely it is the first question he will put to her; but she is able to carry the dream no further for the sudden pain stabbing her heart.

Ah! dear God! how long will she have been lonely for him before that moment comes! A summer to be lived through, an autumn, and all the endless winter! She sighs, but the steadfast patience of the race sustains her, and her thoughts turn upon herself and what the future may be holding.
When she was at St.Prime, one of her cousins who was about to be wedded spoke often to her of marriage.