"Ah! is it you, Monsieur Paul? You almost frightened me; you see--I am--I am not used to seeing you now, and I thought you were not here." "I have been here since morning; I hoped you would come out for a minute, but I had to wait until now. Ah! the day has seemed terribly long to me." "Really, monsieur; but for the last eleven days I have been expecting to see you in your place. Every morning I came early, so as to have time to talk a little with you; but, no, monsieur was never here. I was foolish enough even to ask leave to go out during the day, thinking that you would be there, but I took all those steps for nothing. Of course, I was a great fool to think of--a person who wasn't thinking of me. When one is thinking of anybody, he doesn't let eleven days go by without a word." Elina said all this very rapidly, as if she did not wish to give her anger time to cool. Paul listened, walking by her side, and replied with the accent that comes from the heart: "Elina, can it be that you believe that I no longer love you?" The girl slackened her pace, and her voice indicated that her anger had already begun to subside, as she answered: "Yes, monsieur; I do believe it--I am very sure of it. Not to come for eleven days! not even to find some means to be there just for a moment, to say a word to me. Oh! that was very cruel." "Why, do you suppose, mademoiselle, that the time has not seemed long to me? that I have not been miserable at being deprived of the happiness of seeing you and hearing your voice; you, whom I love so dearly, and who are in my thoughts every instant?" Elina stopped altogether, and there was no trace of anger in her voice. "Well, monsieur, if that is true, then what is the meaning of this long absence? what became of you for eleven days? it seems to me as if they were months!" "Believe that some very powerful motive was necessary to keep me away from you." "A motive--that is no answer. Tell me, where have you been, what have you been doing? I have been told that you are a very mysterious person, that you have several occupations--is that true? No; for you would have told me. I have been assured, also, that you had robbed your comrade Sans-Cravate of his--his--mistress." "Oh! surely you did not believe that either, did you, mademoiselle? I, rob my comrade, my friend, of his mistress! for I am fond of Sans-Cravate, although he has the reputation of being hot-headed and quarrelsome. I have seen him give all he possessed, the proceeds of a whole day's work, to a poor woman who went by with two children in her arms, and dressed in rags. And the man who does that cannot be a bad man. I, take away his mistress! Is such a thing possible?" "Ah! that is what I said when I was told of it: 'Is such a thing possible?' but they seemed to laugh at me because I refused to believe it." "Who?" "Your comrades." "Have you spoken to them?"