Page:Georges Eekhoud - Escal Vigor, a novel.djvu/129

Rh still I do not want to abuse your self-devotion. After having sacrificed some of the best years of your youth to the care of my venerable grandmother, I cannot consent for you to bury yourself down there in a desert with me; in a false situation, exposed to the slanders of ill-disposed rustics; much less can I agree to it now, when you are free, the dear departed having endeavoured to recognise your devoted services by assuring to you an independence. You can therefore establish yourself advantageously."

He was going to add "and find a husband," but the eyes of his mistress, more and more in tears, made him aware that such a speech would have been abominable.

"Yes," he continued, taking her hands and looking at her with those enigmatic eyes, in which there was at once uneasiness and excitement, "you deserve to be happy, very happy, my good Blandine. For you were so affectionate, even better than I, her grandson, to the beloved dead. Ah! I occasioned her much anxiety—you know something about it, you, her confidant.—I caused her anguish in spite of myself, but cruelly, all the same. And perhaps, by my unsteady character and numerous