As the design is yours, it is quite natural that you should wish to follow the execution of it." Quite discountenanced by this reception, Felicien would not have dared to have taken a seat, had not Hubertine welcomed him cordially, as she smiled in her sweet, quiet way at this excellent customer.

Almost immediately she resumed her work, bending over the frame where she was embroidering on the sides of the mitre the Gothic ornaments in guipure, or open lacework.
On his side, Hubert had just taken down from the wall a banner which was finished, had been stiffened, and for two days past had been hung up to dry, and which now he wished to relax.

No one spoke; the three workers kept at their tasks as if no other person had been in the room with them.
In the midst of this charming quiet, the young man little by little grew calmer.

When the clock struck three, the shadow of the Cathedral was already very long, and a delicate half-light entered by the window, which was wide open.

It was almost like the twilight hour, which commenced early in the afternoon for this little house, so fresh and green from all the verdure that was about it, as it stood by the side of the colossal church.