"Forgive me for interrupting you," said Paul; "but, I am afraid I could not pay any attention to your commission just now. I want to speak to you on a very serious subject, and I implore you to listen to me." She glanced at him, saw his pallor and agitation, and understood him immediately. Her eyes looked almost contemptuous as she seemed to think: "What a pity! Another man in love with me; and he was such a pleasant friend!" Paul continued: "You must have noticed the happiness it has always given me to be with you. Family reasons have prevented my explaining myself before; now, they are at an end, and I come to you boldly, to say I love you." She sat quietly opposite him, playing carelessly with the fringe of the parasol in her hand. Paul continued passionately: "I adore the very trifles you have touched. Believe me, this has been in my mind from the first hour I ever saw you. I address myself to you, rather than to your father, as I know your choice will have his approval." Odette leaned back in her chair, crossed her hands on her lap, and, in a calm tone, with a slight, contemptuous inflection, said: "Your proposal is a great compliment, sir. As such, I thank you, as I thank all who come to me on the same errand. But I must reply as I have replied to those who have done me so much honor: I do not wish to marry." There was no chance to mistake her calm, convincing reply. Paul saw his hopes utterly annihilated. His fall was the more complete, as he had felt himself encouraged in his pursuit since he had entered the house. A wild despair shone from his eyes. He started up, and, in a voice whose mortal anguish would have softened the hardest heart, exclaimed: "Ah! that is what you have said to all the others! but no one ever loved you as I love! When a man marries, he offers his wife the battered remains of a heart that has been dragged through all kinds of filth! But I, long before I met you, knew that I could never love but once in my life; and, when I saw you, I felt that here was the woman to whom my life, my thoughts, my soul, belonged! When I was unhappy, my consolation was, 'She will love me some day.' When I was happy, I thought, 'What a pity she does not love me yet!' and joy turned to sadness. If I were to tell you all the absurdities I have committed, merely to be with you! The morning you were reading in the garden, I was hidden behind the rock against which you were leaning. The evening you walked alone on the sea-shore, I was close by you. At night, I watched your window; and you tell me what you tell your other lovers! What have they ever done? Some of them have married since then, as if they could forget you. But I--I am yours for life and death--yours, whether you want me or not; bound to you by my love, by my will, and by my passion."