"Monsieur, it is with sincere pleasure that I accord you the honour. But how complimentary you have become! Already you are recovering from the surprise, the shock, of my arrival. How serious you were a moment since! I thought I should have to cry. Smile a little, Jean. There, that is better. Once more. Now we are all right. How lovely the water! How balmy the air! How pleasant to glide along like this! Not so fast, Jean. Slowly. It is still early in the morning. Let us not think of time. Let us forget the world. Ah, now I know what it is to be dead to the world, as they say in the convent, and yet very much alive. I think that I have never lived before. But what would Mother Sainte Anne say if she could see me now? And why don’t you ask how I happened to come?" "It is enough to know that you are here, Gabrielle. If only you would stay." "I am staying, am I not? But if you say that again I will go away at once." "Allow me to remind you, Mademoiselle, that we are at some distance from the shore." "But I can swim quite well, Monsieur; and if you provoke me I will jump into the water." "As you did once before, many years ago. How well I remember the occasion! Do it again, Gabrielle, that I may have the pleasure of saving your life. Then you would belong to me, you know." "What nonsense you talk, Jean! I will not jump into the water, just to please you, but I will go back to the shore all the same. Take me back." "Oh, not yet, Gabrielle. It is too pleasant here. Never before have I seen the lake so beautiful. There was always something lacking; but now it is complete, perfect." "It is truly wonderful, Jean; and it would be a pity not to enjoy it while we may. I like to sit here on this comfortable bearskin, dipping my hands in the water, looking at the trees, the sky, the clouds--while you do all the work." "And I, Gabrielle, I should like to do this kind of work for the rest of my life, to glide along over a summer lake while looking into the face of one so beautiful." "Jean, I will splash you if you say any more." "Do so, Gabrielle. I need a bath, perhaps." "On the contrary, you look as though you took a bath every day, like a certain Englishman at Quebec. Is it possible that you have been here for a whole month? You are no wild man of the woods at all. I am disappointed in you, Jean." "I am sorry, Gabrielle. In the future I will try to please you better."