"Is it really you?" said Denise. "Oh! if you knew how your letter grieved me! Wicked! to leave me because you were poor! to dare to say that I didn't love you! that you wouldn't come to see me again till you had ceased to love me! Is that what your coming now means? Oh! tell me quickly, don't let me hope for happiness--it is too hard to be cheated out of what one longs for!" Auguste made no other reply than to press her to his heart, while his eyes told the sweet girl that it was something more than friendship that had brought him back to her. Bertrand, having left the cabriolet, came forward to pay his respects to Denise. "Bertrand too!" she exclaimed; "he has come back!" "Yes, and it is to him, whom I accused of deserting me, that I owe my good fortune to-day." A few words put Denise in possession of the whole story, and she held out her hand to Bertrand, saying: "Oh! my heart never doubted his! As if one could cease to love a person because he is unfortunate!" Then suddenly remembering that Auguste had recovered a large part of his property, she exclaimed: "Oh! mon Dieu! then I cannot be your wife!" "Yes, Denise, you will be my wife," said Auguste, taking her hand, "for you are the only woman who could make me happy, and I cannot doubt the sincerity of your love." "But I am only a village girl----" "Whom I prefer to all the fine ladies of the city." "I shall be awkward in society." "I have learned the worth of society, and I care very little for its judgments; besides, when it knows you, my Denise, it will be compelled to do you justice." "Oh! I don't want to know it, for my part, my dear; let us agree that, if you marry me, I shall stay here. When you want to go to Paris, you shall go alone; and then, when you are tired of the city, you can come back to your little milkmaid." Auguste kissed her and they started for the cottage. When one is happy, everything seems delightful; in the eyes of the lovers the cottage had become a palace; but Bertrand, who was not in love and who always thought of the future, said to Auguste: "This house isn't big enough for you, lieutenant; besides, it belongs to Coco--it's his property. You must buy a pretty house, not too expensive, which you can see from here, where you will have suitable accommodations and where you can entertain a few friends; because, you know, you mustn't isolate yourself from society altogether; the sure way to have your love last only a short time is to shut yourself up with your wife for six months. Now that you know the world, you won't be taken in again. You will take men at their true value; you can associate with the people whose company is agreeable, and you mustn't play for such high stakes as you used to; for now, or never, is the time to be prudent."