Madame Baldimer gazed earnestly at Albert, but in that searching gaze there was no trace of tenderness, nothing to indicate that it came from the heart. The young man was almost frightened by the persistent stare of those two great black eyes; he would have preferred a little confusion and embarrassment, some slight emotion, a sigh--in a word, some one of those things which indicate that the moment of avowal, of surrender, is at hand; and Madame Baldimer's expression conveyed no such indication. "You have loved very often, have you not?" murmured the lovely widow at last. "So I thought until I knew you, but I feel now that I never really loved before I saw you." "Oh, yes! a man always says that to the last woman to whom he pays court. But I have been told that you have been guilty of a great many follies for your mistresses." "Follies do not necessarily denote love." "Sometimes they do. And suppose I wanted you to do something of the sort for me----" "Why, I should be only too happy, if it were a means of making myself agreeable to you." "Ah! you do not know me, you see. I am very peculiar. I want the man who loves me to gratify all my tastes, all my whims; to divine them himself; I do not understand the love that hesitates before a desire of the loved one. If I had been a man, I would have thrown myself into the water, into the flames, to prove my love for a woman! I would have defied all dangers, challenged all my rivals--in short, I would have turned the world upside down, aye, and committed crimes, if she had asked me to." Albert, who was at a loss to understand the purport of her remarks, looked at her with a smile, saying: "Have you some little crime you would like me to commit? or would you like me to jump into the water?" Madame Baldimer pressed her lips together impatiently, as she replied: "Mon Dieu! monsieur, what will you say next? I should be very sorry, indeed, if the slightest accident should happen to you on my account. Really, I don't know why I said that. I don't always consider what I say." "But you consider what is said to you, surely?" rejoined Albert, taking her hand. She smiled, and seemed to reflect for a moment. "Where do you live now?" she asked. "Is it true that you have moved?" "No, madame; I am still in the same house." "And you live with your father, I believe?" "On the same landing." "For a young man who likes to do foolish things, it must be a little burdensome sometimes to have such a neighbor." "Oh! no, madame; I am my own master; I do what I choose; my father does not interfere with me in any way; he is so kind to me!" "Ah! he loves you very dearly, does he?" "Yes, I cannot doubt it. And it is quite natural, as I am the only one left of a numerous family." "What! has he no other child?" "I had two brothers and a sister--and I alone am left." Madame Baldimer let her head fall upon her breast, and seemed lost in thought.