When absolutely drunk, which, on an average, was not more than once a month, he simply slept, and we did what we pleased--a fact which our childish code of honour also prevented us from betraying.
But, on the whole, we got on very well together, for, after the incident of our first meeting, Monsieur Leblanc was always polite to me.

Marie he adored, as did every one about the place, from her father down to the meanest slave.

Need I add that I adored her more than all of them put together, first with the love that some children have for each other, and afterwards, as we became adult, with that wider love by which it is at once transcended and made complete.

Strange would it have been if this were not so, seeing that we spent nearly half of every week practically alone together, and that, from the first, Marie, whose nature was as open as the clear noon, never concealed her affection for me.

True, it was a very discreet affection, almost sisterly, or even motherly, in its outward and visible aspects, as though she could never forget that extra half-inch of height or month or two of age.
Moreover, from a child she was a woman, as an Irishman might say, for circumstances and character had shaped her thus.