You have known me for a long time; I have nothing to tell you concerning myself.

And now, I shall wait." She detained him with a sign of her hand, and tried to speak; but her eyes filled with tears.

She hid her face in her hands, and she murmured: "Excuse me! I have been so rarely happy! I don't know what it is!" Lucan got gently down upon his knees before her, and when their eyes met, their two hearts suddenly filled like two cups.
"Speak, my friend!" she resumed.

"Tell me again that you love me.

I was so far from thinking it! And why is it?
And since when ?" He explained to her his mistake, his painful struggle between his love for her and his friendship for Pierre.
"Poor Pierre!" said Clotilde, "what an excellent fellow.