This trip pleased both Paul and Odette, and accepting Grenoble's advice, they left for Bordeaux. Paul was in heaven. Odette was his wife! That glorious splendor of hair, those deep, dark eyes, that perfect form; all belonged to him, and he never tired of gazing at her. His love for her was complete. He loved her with his whole heart and his mind. And yet he sought to know her thoughts, to study the workings of her heart and imagination, for a worm was gnawing at his heart, one thought was tormenting him incessantly,--the thought of that _other_, of that man whom she had loved before! However, he believed she had forgotten him; she was so gentle, so loving and sweet. One night, while she was sleeping, he raised himself on his elbow to look at her by the pale light of the night-lamp. How infinitely lovely she looked as she lay there so quietly, and how inexpressibly sad it was that another had stolen into her heart before him! He gazed at that beautiful face in its frame of golden hair, her exquisite teeth shining between her moist lips. She opened her eyes under his burning gaze, and smiling sweetly, said, "You were looking at me asleep?" She could not help being pleased and touched at the adoration and humble worship that Paul lavished at her feet. She had been studying him since her marriage, and was astonished at the cultivation his mind had received. He could discuss painting, sculpture and poetry, as if he were himself a painter or a poet. He understood his chosen profession, law, as not one lawyer in a thousand does. His frank, beautiful eyes, and fine profile, made him remarkably handsome, and his goodness of heart was constantly being shown in numberless little instances. No poor person could apply to him in vain. Many a time had Odette surprised him in that simple, quiet charity that pleases most on high. One evening, Paul sat down at the piano and sang in a charming, cultivated voice, a little Russian song. Odette cried, "And are you a musician, too? You have every talent!" "I have only one, and that is to love my wife." She sprang to him and embraced him, saying, "I love you, dear Paul." And no one would have suspected that she was saying to herself, "I must love him; he is worthy of my whole heart."