It will not be forgotten that Bertha had made a deep impression on M. de Hansfeld the first time he saw her at the Comédie Française, and when he subsequently met her at Pierre Raimond's, whom he had snatched from certain death, he was forcibly struck at the circumstance which thus brought him into contact with Bertha, viewing it as a kind of fatality which the more augmented his love. The charm of De Hansfeld's manner, the delicacy of his mind, his respectful attentions, which were almost filial towards Pierre, soon converted the gratitude which the old man felt for his preserver into sincere affection. Arnold was simple-minded and good, discoursed with taste and sound knowledge as to the great masters of painting, who were objects of passionate admiration to the old man, who had devoted a portion of his life to reproducing in copper the best productions of Raphael, Vinci, and Titian. He had shewn these labours of his youth and maturity to Arnold, who had appreciated them like a connoisseur and skilful artist. His praises did not betray complaisance or flattery; but moderated, just, and appropriate, they were the more pleasing to Pierre Raimond, who had a perfect knowledge of his art, and, like all earnest and modest artists, knew better than any one else the strong and weak points of his works. This was not all. Arnold seemed, by his political opinions, to belong to that effervescent party of Young Germany which presents so much analogy with certain shades of the republican school. In consequence of these many points of similarity, the recent intimacy of Pierre Raimond and Arnold became every day more and more close. The latter was really in earnest,--he felt sincerely attracted towards the blunt and austere old man, who preserved the attachments and ideas of his early days in all their warmth and integrity. M. de Hansfeld was exceedingly timid; the duties of his station so weighed upon him, that, in order to escape from them, he had affected the greatest eccentricities. His tastes, his inclinations, lead him to a life more simple and obscure, peaceably occupying himself with the arts and social theories. Thus, even in Bertha's absence, he found in the two rooms of Pierre Raimond more pleasure, happiness, and enchantment, than he had hitherto experienced in all his palaces. If he had only desired to dissemble his attentions to Bertha under the appearance of deceitful attentions to the engraver, the latter had too much instinct for the truth not to have perceived it, and too much stern pride not to have closed his door against Arnold. Pierre Raimond was not blind to the fact that his young friend found Bertha charming, and that he equally admired her talent as an artist, the ingenuousness of her character, and the graces of her mind.