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Rh intimate questions M. Hervart did not dare to give a deﬁnite answer.

"What I should like is that the present moment should go on for ever...."

"They have hardly spoken to one another, and yet," Mme Des Boys continued, "I seem to see between them the beginnings of....what? ....how shall I put it?..."

"The beginnings of an understanding," prompted M. Hervart with ironic charity.

"Why not love? There's such a thing as love at ﬁrst sight."

"Oh, Rose is much too well bred."

The silliness of this woman, so reasonable and natural, none the less, in her rôle of mother, exasperated M. Hervart even more than the insinuations to which he had been obliged to listen. Ceasing, not to hesitate, but to reﬂect, he said abruptly:

"I shall be very sorry to see her married."

Mme Des Boys pressed his hand:

"Dear friend! yes, it will make a big difference in our home."

She went on, after a moment's hesitation:

"Not a word about all this, dear Hervart; you understand. And now I think that the