But he felt that at this moment the kindest act would be one of complete truth.

He knew that Paul Deroulede's heart was completely given to Juliette de Marny; he too, like Anne Mie, instinctively mistrusted the beautiful girl and her strange, silent ways, but, unlike the poor hunchback, he knew that no sin which Juliette might commit would henceforth tear her from out the heart of his friend; that if, indeed, she turned out to be false, or even treacherous, she would, nevertheless, still hold a place in Deroulede's very soul, which no one else would ever fill.
"You think he loves her ?" asked Anne Mie at last.
"I am sure of it." "And she ?" "Ah! I do not know.

I would trust your instinct--a woman's--sooner than my own." "She is false, I tell you, and is hatching treason against Paul." "Then all we can do is to wait." "Wait ?" "And watch carefully, earnestly, all the time.

There! shall I pledge you my word that Deroulede shall come to no harm ?" "Pledge me your word that you'll part him from that woman." "Nay; that is beyond my power.

A man like Paul Deroulede only loves once in life, but when he does, it is for always." Once more she was silent, pressing her lips closely together, as if afraid of what she might say.
He saw that she was bitterly disappointed, and sought for a means of tempering the cruelty of the blow.
"It will be your task to watch over Paul," he said; "with your friendship to guard and protect him, we need have no fear for his safety, I think." "I will watch," she replied quietly.
Gradually he had led her steps back towards the Rue Ecole de Medecine.
A great melancholy had fallen over his bold, adventurous spirit.