After completing his toilet, Auguste went into the garden and found Denise there. She came to meet him with the most engaging smile, and a look in which there was something more than friendship. Coco ran to Auguste and said: "Ah! I know you now--this is the way you used to look." "Thanks to you, Denise!" said Dalville in an undertone. But the girl put her hand over his mouth, and he seized the hand and pressed it to his heart without more words. They showed him the cottage, the garden, every nook and corner, and Denise said to him at every step: "Do you like this? Are you satisfied with the use I have made of your money?" "What surprises me," said Auguste, "is that you can build a house with three thousand francs." "In the first place, monsieur, we had the land; and then, you see, the cottage has only four rooms and attics above." "But that pretty summer-house where I slept last night?" "Oh! I had that built after my poor aunt's death. I preferred to live here than in our house. I felt as if I weren't so far away from you." These words were accompanied by another sweet smile; all of which was not calculated to induce Auguste to look upon the lovely girl as his sister simply. After breakfast they sat in the shade of a clump of lilacs. They talked a long while, having so much to say to each other after a long separation. The girl did not weary of listening to Auguste's stories of his travels. When he mentioned Bertrand's name, a sigh escaped him; whereupon Denise took his hand and pressed it affectionately, to give him to understand that he still had friends. He continued his story, but her hand remained in his, and she did not think of withdrawing it. Engrossed by the pleasure of being with Denise, of exchanging soft glances with her, it did not seem to occur to Auguste that he must look upon her only with a friend's eyes. Nor did Denise seek to conceal the state of her feelings from him; on the contrary, she wished him to read in the lowest depths of her heart. Several days passed swiftly. In the morning Auguste and Denise went to walk in the country. Coco always went with them, but his presence did not incommode them; for their eyes alone betrayed their feelings, and an innocent heart has no fear of witnesses. At night, when they were together in the cottage, the hours flew more swiftly still, and when they separated, they exchanged a loving: "Until to-morrow." Auguste could not conceal from himself the fact that he adored Denise, and, being persuaded that she had no other feeling than friendship for him, he said to himself: "This girl will end by turning my head. But she loves me only as a brother; she doesn't know how dangerous to my repose her affectionate glances and caresses are. I must leave her and return to Paris; a few days more and I shan't have strength to do it." On her side Denise said to herself: