Page:The White Stone.djvu/239

Rh "'You are a living proof to the contrary.'

"I sought her gaze, but it did not respond to mine. She seemed not to have heard. I could no longer entertain doubts: she was a coquette. I was delighted. I told her that I found her charming, that I loved her, and I told her so over and over again. She suffered me to go on with my speeches, and finally asked:

"'What do you mean by all this!'

"I became more pressing.

"'She reproached me for taking liberties with her, exclaiming:

"'Your ways are those of a savage.'

"'I do not find acceptance with you?'

"'I do not say so.'

"Chéron, Chéron, would it cost you any great effort to ...'

"We sat down together on a bench over which an elm cast its shade. I took her hand, and carried it to my lips ... of a sudden, I no longer felt, no longer saw anything, and I found myself lying in bed at home. I rubbed my eyes, smarting with the morning light, and I saw my valet who, standing before me with a stupid look, was saying to me:

"'It is nine o'clock, sir. You told me to wake you at nine o'clock, sir. I have come to tell you, sir, that it is nine o'clock?"