"How good you are!" finally exclaimed the young man. "Not content with surpassing every one by your genius, you have the best heart in the world! You are right. An offer like yours should be accepted as generously as it is made. I will not swear an eternal gratitude. It is not necessary. You know me well enough to know that I am now bound to you for life!" Claude was delighted. His really kind heart was pleased with the signs of Paul's happiness--his work; and then, he was flattered at having won the heart of this obstinate rebel at last. Claude was accustomed to charm every one around him, and, was he to blame if he took a certain pride in his rôle of universal fascinator? "And now," he continued, "will you not tell me her name?" Paul hesitated. "Will you forgive me, if I wait until I have proposed to her? Oh, Heavens! if she should not love me!" Claude smiled at his step-son. He was thinking that he, too, had known the pangs and joys of youth and love, which the first gray hair banishes for ever! He repeated, half sadly, Metastasio's immortal couplet: "O jeunesse! printemps de la vie-- O printemps! jeunesse de l'année." Then, "Now we must separate. You can go to her, and I will return to your mother, at Hyères, and announce the success of my mission. You can bring us her answer, and we will all come to Canet, for, of course, she will say 'Yes!'" So they separated with no further words. The hearts of both were too full. To tell the truth, Claude was the happiest of the two, as, to receive is merely a delight, while to give is the purest and sweetest of all happiness! CHAPTER IV. An exquisite landscape lay before Paul as he hurried to the villa--forests, mountains and rocks--the beautiful sea, bounding the horizon on three sides; but he saw nothing of it. He hurried along, his whole frame trembling with excitement. What should he say to Odette? What would she reply? Did she love him? He did not know. He knew that she enjoyed his society; but, what did that signify? He knew she was proud--disdainful, even--finding it impossible to dissemble in the least; not at all a flirt, she studiously avoided anything leading to a declaration of love, which is the delight of most women. Therefore, he had some slight grounds for hope; but, as he had carefully avoided anything like love-making--knowing himself so poor--he was completely ignorant of the state of her heart. But he worshiped her so devoutly; his faith in her was so sublime; his love so inexpressibly tender, he felt she must love him in return.