He is only too devoted; he would risk his life for him here, as he would on the field of battle, and he forgets sometimes that he will one day be father of a family." "Ah! I once regretted losing you," said the countess, with a glance that made Olympe blush; "but I regret it no longer, for I see you happy.

What a sublime and noble thing is married love!" she added, speaking out the thought she had not dared express before the abbe.
Virginie de Troisville dropped into a revery, and Madame Michaud kept silence.
"Well, at least the girl is honest, is she not ?" said the countess, as if waking from a dream.
"As honest as I am myself, madame." "Discreet ?" "As the grave." "Grateful ?" "Ah! madame; she has moments of humility and gentleness towards me which seem to show an angelic nature.

She will kiss my hands and say the most upsetting things.

'Can we die of love ?' she asked me yesterday.

'Why do you ask me that ?' I said.