Then began the eternal lamentation: “Oh, if Heaven had not willed it! And why not? What prevented it?”

When Charles came home at midnight, she seemed to have just awakened, and as he made a noise undressing, she complained of a headache, then asked carelessly what had happened that evening.

“Monsieur Léon,” he said, “went to his room early.”

She could not help smiling, and she fell asleep, her soul filled with a new delight.