"Mademoiselle, you promised me the first redowa," and a young man took Noemi away. She turned as she reached the door and threw a kiss to Renee with the tips of her fingers. Noemi's confession had given Renee a thrill of joy, and she had revelled in the smile on her friend's face. She herself felt immensely comforted and relieved. In an instant everything had changed for her, and the thought that Noemi loved her brother chased away all other ideas. She no longer saw the shame and the crime which she had so long seen in this marriage. She kept repeating to herself that Noemi loved him, that they both loved each other. The rest all belonged to the past, and they would each of them forget that past, Noemi by forgiving it, and Henri by redeeming it. Suddenly the remembrance of something came back to her, bringing with it an anxious thought and a vague dread. She was determined, however, just then to see no dark clouds in the horizon and nothing threatening in the future. Chasing all this from her mind, she began to think of her brother and of Noemi once more. She pictured to herself the wedding-day and their future home, and she recalled the voices of some children she had once heard calling "Auntie! Auntie!" "Will mademoiselle do me the honour of dancing with me?" It was Denoisel who was bowing in front of her. "Do we dance together--you and I? We know each other too well. Sit down there, and don't crease my dress. Well, what are you looking at?" Renee was wearing a dress of white tulle, trimmed with seven narrow flounces and bunches of ivy leaves and red berries. In her bodice and the tulle ruches of her sleeves she wore ivy and berries to match. A long spray of the ivy was twisted round her hair with a few berries here and there and the leaves hung down over her shoulders. She was leaning her head back on the sofa, and her beautiful chestnut hair, which was brought forward, fell slightly over her white forehead. There was a new gleam, a soft intense light in her brown, dreamy eyes, the expression of which could not be seen. A shadow played over her mouth at the corners, and her lips, which were generally closed in a disdainful little pout, were unsealed and half open, partially revealing the gladness which came from her very soul. The light fell on her chin, and a ring of shadow played round her neck each time that she moved her head. She looked charming thus, the outline of her features indistinct under the full light of the chandeliers, and her whole face beaming with childish joy. "You are very pretty this evening, Renee." "Ah--this evening?" "Well, to tell the truth, just lately you've looked so worried and so sad. It suits you much better to enjoy yourself." "Do you think so? Do you waltz?" "As though I had just learnt and had been badly taught. But you have only this very minute refused."