The nun urged her to eat, obligingly waited on her, and thought to divert her mind by her harmless, unmeaning chatter. Julie listened with inexhaustible good humor, and carried mental submission so far as to seem interested in all the minutiæ of that recluse's life, all the details of the regulations of the convent, all the dull little events which occupied the leisure of the community. What did she care whether she heard that or something else? It was no longer in the power of anyone to annoy or tire her. She was like an empty heart through which everything passes and in which nothing remains. When Marcel arrived in the afternoon his cousin said: "Why did you tell me that lady was ill and had reasons for being unhappy? She slept soundly without saying a word, she breakfasted reasonably well, although a little late, and she took great pleasure in talking with me. She is a very amiable person and she has no serious sorrow. I give you my word that she has not, for I know about such things!" Marcel was alarmed by this sorrow without reaction. He came to tell her what had taken place that morning at the hôtel D'Estrelle. Julie confined herself to asking him for news of Julien and his mother. When she learned that they were moving and that they were to pass that night at Sèvres, she would not listen to anything else. "I do not propose to hate anyone any more," she said; "it would cause me more misery and do no good. Do not mention Monsieur Antoine to me for three or four days. I beg you, my friend, allow me to become accustomed to my lot as best I can. You see that I do not rebel; that is all that is necessary." On the following days Marcel found her calmer and calmer. She was very pale; but the nun assured him that she slept and ate as much as was necessary, and that was true. She did nothing during the day and did not wish to see anyone, declaring that she was not at all bored. That also was true. She was preoccupied, and sometimes she smiled. Marcel could not understand it at all; he urged her to consult the convent physician, who found her pulse a little weak, her complexion a little _phlegmatic_, as they said in those days to indicate the presence of a certain amount of lymph in the system. He prescribed quinine and told Marcel that it would amount to nothing. [Illustration 05: _JULIE AT THE CONVENT AT CHAILLOT_ _Julie obediently took the quinine, walked about the garden of the convent, consented to receive visits from several nuns, impressed them as a very attractive person._]